LrlBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


.  fa  0  I  tf  SL. 


Accessions  No  .     0  I  tf  SL.        Class  No. 


VASHTI 

A   POEM   IN   SEVEN  BOOKS 


BY 
JOHN   BRAYSHAW   KAYE 

Author  of 
"  Songs  of  Lake  Geneva  " 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

27   WEST  TWENTY-THIRD   ST.  24   BEDFORD   ST.,    STRAND 

®|je  $[  nielurbother  |)ress 
1894 


0?  THS 

TJNI7BRSIT7 


COPYRIGHT,  1894 

BY 
JOHN  BRAYSHAW  KAYE 


Electrotyped,  Printed  and  Bound  by 

Ube  fmicfeerbocfcer  press,  "fflew 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


V? 


TO 

MY   LITTLE   DAUGHTER 

NAMED   AFTER  ITS  HEROINE   AND   TITLE 

THIS  VOLUME    IS    AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED 

T.  B.  K. 


PREFACE. 


A 


CONSIDERABLE  portion  of  the  following  poem, 
it  will  be  observed,  is  an  adoption  of  parts  of  the 
Bible  story  of  the  Book  of  Esther,  with  such  changes  in 
the  language  as  to  make  it  conform  to  the  measure  of 
the  verse  chosen  ;  while  a  part  of  the  remainder  is  made 
up  of  speech  put  into  the  mouths  of  some  of  its  person 
ages,  who  in  the  Bible  story  are  silent,  or  have  but  little 
to  say.  By  this  means,  and  the  introduction  of  a  few 
minor  characters,  the  author  has  endeavored  to  bring 
into  more  critical  prominence  the  chief  characters  in  the 
tremendous  drama  ;  ascribing  to  them  motives — and 
giving  their  reasoning  thereon — which,  it  is  assumed, 
impelled  them  to  action  ;  and  especially  has  he  sought 
to  give  a  voice  to,  and  get  a  hearing  for,  one  of  the  chief 
unfortunates  in  the  story — and  at  the  same  time  one 
of  the  most  interesting  characters  of  Holy  Writ, — that 
she  may  relate  her  trials  and  sufferings  through  one  of 
the  most  singular  and  pathetic  ordeals  known  to  human 


vi  PREFACE. 


experience  ;  whatever  the  facts  after  her  deposition  may 
have  been.  Around  and  through  this  nucleus,  the  au 
thor  has  attempted  to  weave  and  blend  what  it  seems  to 
him  must  have  been  some  of  the  principal  events  of  con 
temporaneous  profane  history,  leading  up  to,  running 
through,  and  continuing  a  time  after  the  happening  of, 
the  central  events  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Esther,  and 
having  a  more  or  less  direct  effect  upon  some  of  its  per 
sonages  and  their  actions.  At  the  same  time  the  author 
has  attempted  to  invest  the  poem  with  some  hint  of  the 
combined  spiritual  atmosphere  of  Judaism  and  Zoroas- 
tianism,  the  one  or  the  other  of  which  must  have  influ 
enced  its  actors  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  In  the  journey 
to  Lydia,  a  journey  not  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Esther, 
the  author  has  endeavored  to  have  called  up  some  of 
the  interesting  history  and  legend  of  the  countries 
through  which  the  travellers  passed,  for  the  edification 
of  the  beautiful  and  melancholy  refugee,  and,  let  him 
hope,  without  the  protest  of  the  reader. 

But  few  notes  of  reference  have  been  made,  but  then, 
in  a  poem,  it  can  scarcely  be  required  to  cite  authorities, 
still  the  history  of  the  poem,  it  is  believed,  is  in  the  main 
correct.  With  a  deep  consciousness,  however,  of  its 
many  imperfections,  in  expression,  arrangement,  and 
otherwise,  the  poem  Vashti  is  offered  to  the  reading 
public  in  the  hope  that  it  may  not  prove  an  altogether 


PREFACE.  Vll 

unappreciated  effort  to  further  exemplify  the  persistent 
strength  of  purpose,  and  love  of  race,  of  Mordecai  ;  the 
vigor  of  mind,  the  exalted  courage  and  faith  of  Esther  ; 
and  more  than  all,  the  kindly,  loving,  yet  strong  nature 
of  the  fair  woman,  who,  at  such  peril  and  sacrifice  in  the 
cause  of  womanly  modesty  dared  to  ignore  the  command 
of  the  cruel  and  imperious  Ahasuerus. 

JOHN  B.  KAYE. 
CALMAR,  I'A.,  April,  1894. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 
THE    GREAT    FAIR    AT    SHUSHAN. 

Introduction,  I  ;  the  call  and  assembling  of  the  nations,  4  ;  the  great 
military  pageant,  6  ;  the  Persians  and  Medes,  7  ;  Greeks,  9  ;  In 
dians,  9  ;  Arabs,  10 ;  Assyrians,  n  ;  Chaldeans,  12  ;  Jews,  13  ; 
Syrians,  13;  Phoenicians,  13;  Egyptians,  13;  Caducians,  14; 
Scythians,  14;  Parthians,  15;  Armenians,  15;  Lydians,  15; 
Ethiopians,  16  ;  the  "  Immortals,"  16  ;  in  the  throne-room  of  the 
palace  Shushan,  21  ;  Ahasuerus'  address  of  welcome  to  the  na 
tions,  22  ;  reply  by  the  sub-king  of  Babylon,  24  ;  abjectness  of 
Babylon,  26  ;  song  of  the  Nations,  27  ;  the  dancing  virgins,  30  ; 
the  feats  of  the  giants  and  the  dwarfs,  31  ;  the  jugglers,  32  ;  the 
summoned  Peris,  33  ;  the  feast  and  banquet  of  the  garden  court, 
35  ;  Ahasuerus  sends  for  Vashti,  her  answer  and  the  King's 
wrath,  38  ;  Ahasuerus  inquires  of  the  seven  princes  what  shall 
be  done  to  Vashti,  38  ;  the  advice  of  Memucan,  40  ;  decree 
against  Vashti  ;  and  the  chamberlains  ordered  to  execute  the 
decree,  41  ;  Mehuman  returns  and  presents  Vashti's  appeal, 
42  ;  the  King  denounces  and  condemns  Mehuman,  43. 


X  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  II. 
VASHTI. 

Vashti— an  outcast  at  Zora's  Pool,  44  ;  soliloquizes,  44 ;  compares 
her  present  and  past,  45  ;  on  her  presents  from  the  provinces, 
46  ;  on  the  women's  song  of  praise  to,  51  ;  of  a  leper  and  his 
conduct,  54;  on  her  disobedience,  56;  the  decree  against, 
60-1  ;  on  the  courage  and  self-sacrifice  of  Mehuman,  62  ;  his 
message  from  the  King,  63  ;  on  the  disrobing  for  expulsion,  64  ; 
on  her  parting  with  the  baby  prince,  the  expulsion  and  awaken 
ing.  65-6 ;  on  the  story  of  Eden  and  the  first  pair,  67  ;  on  the 
injustice  of  her  own  punishment,  69  ;  criticises  Memucan,  70 ; 
on  the  benefits  of  speech,  71. 

BOOK  III. 
HADASSAH    AND    MORDECAI. 

Mordecai— Hadassah  inquires  of  his  thoughts,  72  ;  his  answer,  73  ; 
tells  Hadassah  his  belief  that  she  will  be  chosen  queen,  74  ; 
advises  her  to  go  for  a  time  to  Ecbatana  the  more  readily  to  con 
ceal  her  race  and  identity,  75  ;  Hadassah  protests,  criticising 
Mordecai  for  inconsistency,  77  ;  Mordecai  further  urges  his  pro 
ject,  78  ;  and  relates  to  Hadassah  his  dream  of  her  coronation, 
and  of  her  being  named  "  Esther,"  80  ;  and  presses  her  further 
for  the  good  of  Israel  and  the  glory  of  God,  81  ;  she  consents  to 
retire  to  Ecbatana  to  await  being  called  to  Shushan  by  the  King's 
couriers,  as  requested  by  Mordecai,  82  ;  sets  out  for  Ecbatana  ; 
a  lion  crouches  in  the  way,  but  afterwards  flees,  83  ;  she  inter 
prets  it  as  a  good  omen,  85  ;  arrives  at  Ecbatana  ;  is  brought 
back  to  Shushan  and  afterwards  is  made  queen,  87. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

BOOK  IV. 
HAMAN'S  DECREE — THE  MOURNING. 

Bigthan  and  Teresh  conspire  to  slay  Ahasuerus,  89  ;  the  plot  dis 
covered  and  divulged  by  Mordecai,  90  ;  Haman  angered  at 
Mordecai  ;  plans  to  destroy  him  and  all  the  Jews,  90 ;  and  pro- 
cures  a  decree  against  them,  91  ;  thereupon  Mordecai  wails  and 
rends  his  garments  ;  his  lamentation,  92  ;  Hatach  brings  him 
new  raiment,  and  inquiry  from  Esther,  94  ;  Mordecai  refuses  the 
raiment  and  sends  a  message  to  Esther,  95  ;  who  being  much 
troubled  returns  Hatach  with  second  message,  96 ;  Mordecai 
returns  a  message  upbraiding  her  for  her  inaction,  98  ;  Esther 
resolves  to  appear  before  the  King,  and  asks  that  the  people  fast 
and  pray  with  her,  99. 

BOOK  V. 

LITTLE   META. 

Vashti  and  the  little  waif,  Meta ;  the  inquiry,  100  ;  the  place  of 
refuge,  a  hovel  in  the  Jewish  quarter,  101  ;  gratitude  of  the 
foundling,  102  ;  the  prayer  in  the  dark  by  the  unknown,  103  ; 
song  of  supplication  for  deliverance  by  the  multitude,  106  ; 
Vashti  sends  Meta  out  to  inquire  of  the  Jewish  sorrow  ;  she 
returns  not,  109  ;  self-upbraiding  of  Vashti,  no  ;  her  search  for 
the  missing  child,  in  ;  the  general  wailing  of  the  Jews,  in  ; 
Vashti's  prayer,  112-3. 

BOOK  VI. 
ESTHER. 

Esther    appears  before   Ahasuerus,    who  extends    toward  her  the 


xii  CONTENTS. 

golden  sceptre,  1 14  ;  she  invites  the  King  and  Haman  to  a  ban 
quet,  115  ;  invites  them  to  a  second  banquet  when  she  promises 
to  make  known  to  the  King  her  wish,  115  ;  Haman  joyfully  re 
turning  from  the  banquet  meets  Mordecai ;  is  angered  at  the 
Jew's  contemptuous  conduct,  curses  him  and  meditates  revenge, 
116  ;  boasts  of  his  possessions  and  preferment,  117  ;  complains 
of  his  treatment  by  the  Jew,  and  his  wife  advises  the  building  of 
the  gallows  for  Mordecai,  118  ;  the  King,  troubled,  could  not 
sleep,  and  talks  to  himself  of  his  power  and  its  vanity,  119; 
complaining  of  the  interference  of  his  princes,  120;  of  suitors, 
the  plot  to  assassinate  him,  121  ;  calls  the  guards  to  summon  the 
scribes  to  read  from  the  chronicles,  121;  the  clepsydra  in  the  King's 
chamber,  122  ;  hearing  the  record  of  the  plot  to  murder  him, 
inquires  what  had  been  done  for  Mordecai,  122  ;  inquires  who  is 
in  the  court  and  orders  Haman  into  his  presence,  123  ;  and 
inquires  what  shall  be  done  to  whom  the  King  would  honor, 
123  ;  answer  of  Haman,  123  ;  the  King  requires  him  to  carry  out 
his  suggestions,  and  to  honor  Mordecai,  124  ;  the  humiliation  of 
Haman  and  triumph  of  Mordecai,  124 ;  the  second  banquet, 
125  ;  Esther  makes  known  her  purpose  ;  her  plea  for  her  people, 
125  ;  discloses  Haman  as  their  enemy,  126  ;  rage  and  jealousy  of 
the  King,  and  the  hanging  of  Haman,  126  ;  Esther  continues 
her  plea,  prostrating  herself  before  the  King,  who  extends  the 
golden  sceptre,  bids  her  arise,  and  authorizes  the  Jews  to 
defend  themselves,  127-8  ;  Mordecai  invested  with  the  King's 
signet,  dictates  the  decree  of  defence,  129;  elevation  of  Mor 
decai,  130  ;  and  rejoicing  among  the  Jews,  131  ;  the  Jews  defend 
themselves  successfully  and  slay  many  of  their  enemies,  120 ; 
the  establishment  of  "  Purim,"  and  a  time  of  peace  for  the 
Jews,  132. 


CONTENTS.  Xlii 

BOOK   VII. 
THE     FLIGHT. 

Vashti  comments  on  the  deliverance  of  the  Jews,  133  ;  criticises  the 
boast  of  the  unchangeableness  of  the  laws,  134  ;  and  instances 
the  folly  of  precedent,  135  ;  deprecates  the  spirit  of  Esther  in 
requesting  a  second  day  for  slaughter  of  the  Jews'  enemies,  136-7  ; 
tells  of  her  dream  of  the  lost  Meta,  138  ;  and  her  childhood's 
home,  139  ;  the  mysterious  beggar,  140 ;  who  claims  relation 
ship,  and  brings  tidings  of  the  lost  Meta  ;  her  kidnapping  and 
sale  into  slavery,  141  ;  Vashti  exclaims,  and  questions  the 
intruder,  142  ;  reply  of  the  unknown,  143  ;  who  speaks  of  her 
kinsman  Aldiphernes,  who  has  planned  for  escape  to  Lydia,  144  ; 
Vashti  remonstrates,  145  ;  the  unknown  urges  and  unmasks  ;  is 
Aldiphernes  in  disguise,  146-7  ;  Vashti  yields,  joins  her  kinsman's 
caravan  in  the  guise  of  maid  to  his  wife  Aryenis,  and  they  set  out 
for  Lydia,  148  ;  song  of  the  cowherd,  149-50  ;  Vashti  comments 
thereon,  151  ;  before  Behistun  Rock,  152-3  ;  its  inscriptions, 
Vashti's  comments  thereon,  154-5  J  the  journey  through  Zagros, 
by  Lakes  Urumieh  and  Van,  and  along  the  base  of  Ararat,  into 
Cappadocia,  156  ;  Aldiphernes  relates  of  the  inroads  and  expul 
sion  of  the  Cimmerians,  157  ;  comment  of  Vashti,  158  ;  Aldi 
phernes  tells  of  the  Battle  of  the  Eclipse,  159;  Vashti  on  the 
cause  of  the  eclipse,  160  ;  Aldiphernes  points  out  the  place  of  the 
first  conflict  between  the  armies  of  Croesus  and  Cyrus  the  Great, 
161  ;  tells  of  Croesus  retiring  to  Sardis,  162  ;  the  following  of 
the  Persians,  and  the  famous  onslaught  of  the  Lydian  cavalry, 
163 ;  the  Persian  trick  of  the  camel  charge,  164  ;  of  the  fall  of 
Sardis  and  Lydia,  164  ;  the  arrival  at  Sardis  and  the  meeting  of 
Vashti  and  little  Meta,  165  ;  the  refuge,  166. 


VASHTI. 


o 


BOOK  I. 

THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHUSHAN. 

LD  Nile  had  flowed  seven  times  five  hundred  years 

In  his  accustomed  course,  sweeping  adown 
Those  brown  Egyptian  vistas  to  the  sea, 
And  had  been  feared  and  worshipped  as  a  god 
By  untold  millions  who  had  lived  their  lives, 
And  sung  their  songs,  and  boasted  their  exploits 
In  arms  and  arts,  and  then  lain  down  and  died  ; 
Till  on  his  sunny  banks  on  either  side — 
From  the  broad  Delta  unto  that  far  land 
Where  once  the  beauteous  Queen  of  Sheba  reigned,1 — 
Wrapped  in  their  sere-cloth  folds  and  put  away, 
A  hundred  generations  lay  entombed  ; 

1  Abyssinia. 

I 


2  VASHTI. 

The  pyramids  already  were  grown  old, 

And  even  more  of  mystery  than  now 

Dwelt  on  the  stony  face,  so  calm  and  cold, 

Of  Gizeh's  Sphynx.     The  Memnon's  harp-like  voice 

A  thousand  years  with  each  returning  sun 

Had  murmured  sweetly  from  the  Theban  gates  ; 

A  thousand  years  had  passed  since  Israel 

Toiling  across  the  weary  wilderness 

'Scaped  Pharaoh  and  bondage  ;  Canaan's  land, 

The  promised  country,  had  been  occupied  ; 

The  world's  mutations,  and  the  sweep  of  years 

Had  brought  to  Israel  triumphs  and  deep  woes  ; 

Philistia  had  been  won,  and  lost  again, 

Won,  lost,  and  won,  and  the  Twelve  Tribes,  by  turns, 

Had  warred  among  themselves,  been  reconciled, 

Been  strong,  and  weak,  by  times  masters,  and  slaves  ; 

(And  ten  had  disappeared — who  shall  say  where  ?) 

Assyria  had  thundered  at  the  gates 

Of  David's  city ;  been  repulsed  of  God, 

And  lost  the  sway  of  empire  ;  Babylon, 

From  her  encircling  walls,  to  victory 

And  to  Jerusalem,  had  sent  her  hosts, 

Had  razed  the  Holy  City  to  the  ground, 

Destroyed  its  temples,  and  the  house  of  God, 

And  brought  back  Israel  to  captivity 

To  last  until  the  captives  had  beheld 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN. 

The  oppressor's  own  destruction  ;  Persian,  o'er  Mede, 
And  o'er  Chaldean,  had  prevailed,  and  o'er 
A  hundred  Asiatic  kings  and  chiefs  ; 
Had  humbled  Egypt,  brought  fierce  Libya  down, 
And  levied  tribute  on  the  western  tribes 
To  Ethiopia's  border  ;  Macedon  and  Thrace, 
Upon  the  northern  coast  of  ^Egean, 
And  many  islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea, 
Had  bowed  their  necks  unto  the  Persian  yoke  ; 
E'en  the  swart  warriors  'yond  the  Ister's '  course — 
The  predatory  "  Scyths  beyond  the  sea," 
Trembled  anon  in  dread  expectancy 
Lest  once  again  from  'cross  the  Bosphorus 
The  Persians  and  their  levies  might  appear, 
In  countless  numbers,  panoplied  for  war, 
And  all  athirst  for  plunder,  to  draw  sword 
And  level  lance  against  the  Scythian  shafts  ; 
When  from  his  central  throne  the  mighty  King 
Ahasuerus — "  King  of  Kings  "  so  called 
(Being  the  same  called  "  Xerxes  "  by  the  Greeks)— 
Proclaimed  a  feast  and  time  of  merriment, 
And  military  pageant  of  the  realm, 
Throughout  the  provinces  sixscore  and  seven 
That  filled  the  limits  of  his  mighty  empire, 
And  bade  the  kings,  and  princes,  and  chief  men 
1  Ister,  ancient  name  of  the  Danube. 


4  VASHTI. 

Through  all  his  vast  domain,  warm  welcome  thence 
In  such  good  haste  as  each  could  best  devise, 
To  join  the  King  at  Shushan  with  their  wives, 
Their  guards,  their  households,  and  their  retinues 
To  eat  and  drink  and  make  their  hearts  all  glad 
On  the  unstinted  bounty  of  the  king  ; — 
To  centre  the  whole  empire  in  a  camp 
Enjoying  entertainments  and  delights 
Even  for  the  full  space  of  a  half  a  year 
Nor  dull  one  sense  unto  satiety. 

From  banks  of  Nile  and  coast  of  Araby, 
And  from  beyond  the  rocky  Sinjar  cliffs 
And  the  Assyrian  cities  of  the  plain, 
From  the  Judean  hills  and  Syrian  vales, 
From  Nubian  fastnesses  and  Libyan  wastes, 
From  fallen  Babylon  and  distant  Ind, 
From  the  gem  islands  of  ^Egean  Sea — 
From  all  the  tributaries  of  the  realm, 
Within  brief  space,  responsive  to  the  call, 
The  chiefs  and  rulers  of  the  tribes  and  states, 
Their  servants,  families,  and  men-at-arms, 
Were  journeying  toward  Shushan,  and  in  course 
Within  four  months,  the  latest  caravan 
And  cavalcade  had  drawn  up  at  the  gate 
Of  the  king's  palace  and  been  duly  welcomed. 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHU  SHAN. 

When  all  had  rested  well  and  been  restored 

From  weariness  of  travel,  there  was  set, 

By  order  of  the  king,  a  day  when  all 

The  provinces  and  tribes,  by  chosen  troops 

Appropriately  mounted,  duly  armed, 

Distinctly  uniformed  and  panoplied, 

Should  thro'  the  streets  of  Shushan  make  parade 

In  honor  of  the  king  and  the  occasion 

And  the  assembled  guests,  in  such  a  pageant — 

Such  an  array  of  various  types  of  men — 

Such  a  parade  of  nations,  as  the  world 

Had  ne'er  before,  nor  ever  since  hath,  seen. 

At  rise  of  sun  on  the  auspicious  day, 

All  Shushan  woke  with  glad  expectancy 

To  witness  the  impressing  spectacle, 

And  as  a  banner  in  the  van  unfurled, 

A  hundred  trumpets  flung  their  brazen  tones 

Upon  the  air  ;  and  sixscore  chiefs,  and  seven, 

Threw  into  line  their  several  cavalcades, 

And  then  one  trumpet-peal  borne  down  the  line 

And  taken  up  at  reg'lar  intervals 

Was  carried  back  a  half  score  leagues  until 

The  mighty  concourse,  summoned  to  advance, 

Moved  slowly  forward.     Carried  at  its  head, 

A  short  space  in  advance,  fixed  to  a  rod 


6  VASHTI. 

Crossed  on  the  shaft  of  a  gold-pointed  spear 

And  held  aloft  by  a  colossal  Mede, 

Who  sate  a  great  white  charger  strong  and  proud 

In  his  bejewelled  harness,  Kaweianee — 

The  leather  apron  of  the  mighty  blacksmith — 

The  Standard  Royal  of  the  Persian  State 

Since  time  of  Feridoon, — studded  with  gems 

And  trimmed  with  golden  fringe,  shone  gorgeously 

In  the  bright  morning  sun.     Next  came  the  King. 

Seated  in  state  in  a  resplendent  tow'r 

Upon  the  back  of  a  huge  elephant — 

Whose  milk-white  tusks  were  clasped  with  bands  of  gold, 

And  on  occasion  hung  with  tinkling  bells, 

And  whose  vast  bulk  richly  caparisoned 

With  costly  stuffs,  all  trimmed  in  filigree 

Of  gold  and  silver  deftly  interwoven, 

Well  symboled  kingly  power  and  boundless  riches — 

Moving  in  triumph  and  great  majesty. 

Then  came  the  "  Seven  Princes  "  who  might  sit 

Next  to  the  King — his  trusted  counsellors — 

And  the  three  greatest  captains  of  the  realm — 

The  ten  first  personages  in  the  empire — 

Mounted  alike  on  two  great  elephants — 

(Five  upon  each)  that  moved  on  side  by  side, 

Twins  in  their  size  and  their  caparisons, 

Betokening  the  Persia-Median  power  ; 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHUSH  AN.  J 

And  on  an  outer  perch,  builded  upon 

The  outer  sides  of  their  two  gorgeous  towers 

Sat  a  gigantic  Ethiop,  black  as  night — 

Immovable  as  carven  ebony  ; 

And  each  one  held  aloft  an  ebon  staff 

Tipped  with  a  silver  star,  the  star  enclosed 

Within  a  winged  circle  of  fine  gold — 

This  last  the  symbol  of  Ahura  Mazda, 

The  good  and  all-wise  god,— and  from  these  staffs 

In  shimmering  silken  folds  floated  in  air 

Twin  banners  of  the  empire. 

After  these — 

The  great  king's  special  pride,  tithe  of  his  guard— 
A  thousand,  matchless,  strong,  and  godlike  men- 
Five  hundred  Persians  and  five  hundred  Medes, 
The  flower  of  all  the  realm,  rode  gallantly, 
The  first  on  coal-black  steeds  with  arched  necks 
Armored  with  flakes  of  brass  half  overlapped, 
Their  saddles  of  white  leather,  silver  trimmed, 
O'er  scolloped  blankets,  worked  with  threads  of  gold  ; 
Their  bridles  made  of  silken  cord  and  hung 
With  a  white  silken  tassel  'neath  the  ear, 
The  front  embellished  with  a  silver  star  ; 
The  Medes  on  milk-white  chargers  sleek  and  strong, 
Of  the  famed  Nissaean  breed,  and  panoplied 


8  VASHTI. 

In  all  ways  as  the  Persians'  horses  were, 
Save  in  the  color, — all  things  being  black 
In  contrast  with  the  steeds. 

These  thousand  men, — 
The  Persians  clad  in  a  rich,  armored  garb, 
Crossed,  gilded  harnesses,  and  bright  steel  helmets 
All  open-faced  below,  the  upper  front 
Bossed  with  the  winged  circle  deftly  wrought ; 
Each  with  a  jewelled  dagger  in  his  girdle, 
And  a  keen  sword  of  wondrous  workmanship, 
Their  glittering  blades  all  damaskeened  with  gold, 
And  hilts  inlaid  with  pearl  and  precious  gems  ; 
The  Medes,  in  dark  cuirasses,  greaves  and  boots, 
And  jewelled  sashes,  and  all  helmeted 
With  pointed  casques  emblazoned  at  the  brow 
With  a  half-risen  sun  of  sheeny  gold, 
Whose  inlaid  rays  spread  out  and  upward,  so 
Pointing  a  golden  arch  upon  the  steel, 
And  armed  with  jewelled  swords,  and  polished  spears, 
With  shafts  of  cornel  wood  of  matchless  finish, — 
In  truth  did  seem  a  martial  company  ; 
Clear-visaged,  olive-skinned,  and  mustachioed, 
Strong-limbed,  deep-chested,  sitting  well  their  steeds,- 
The  boast  and  pleasure  of  the  populace. 


THE   GREA  T  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN. 

A  company  of  white-skinned,  stalwart  Greeks, 
Whose  well-knit  frames  betokened  rugged  strength, 
Followed  the  Medes,  in  lead  of  their  own  prince, 
Who  oft  had  led  them  in  the  deadly  fray. 
Over  their  heads  the  banner  that  they  loved, — 
The  standard  of  their  island,  sea-girt  home, 
Bearing  in  woven  gold  an  armed  Mars, — 
Waved  proudly.     Finely  horsed  on  steeds 
That  oft  had  borne  their  riders  into  battle  ; 
Armed  with  long  spears,  and  maces,  helmeted, 
And  clad  in  steel-bright  armor,  well  they  seemed 
A  valiant,  warlike  band. 

Next  after  these, 

Five  hundred  Indian  bowmen,  with  their  bows 
And  well-filled  quivers  o'er  their  shoulders  thrown — 
Five  bowmen  in  a  group,  a  hundred  groups — 
Sate  in  a  hundred  open-sided  towers, 
Borne  by  a  hundred  well  trained  elephants 
Ranked  side  by  side  in  fives  as  they  passed  on 
In  brilliant  trappings,  moving  pond'rously, 
With  steady,  well  timed  gait,  all  keeping  step, 
Their  sinewy  trunks  swaying  from  side  to  side, 
Their  tusks — great  pointed  beams  of  ivory — 
Like  levelled  lances  in  each  massive  rank, 


10  VASHTI. 

Held  ever  ready  for  resistless  charge, 
While,  gleaming  from  each  elephantine  front, 
Shone  a  pale  silver  star,  and  over  all, 
From  each  alternate  rank,  waving  on  high, 
The  sun-kissed,  golden  banner  of  the  Ind 
Floated  in  air. 

Now  from  Sweet  Araby 
Two  hundred  dwellers  in  the  desert  came, 
On  tall,  brown  camels  (that  with  high-held  heads 
And  swinging  pace  strode  solemnly  along) 
Mounted,  each  on  a  fleshy  pinnacle 
Capped  with  a  richly  trimmed,  fantastic  seat, 
Half  saddle  and  half  howdah,  which  they  sate 
At  high-kneed  stride  in  shifty  attitude, 
Their  lithe  forms  clad  in  half-loose  drapery, 
Their  crimson  bonnets  covering  in  part 
Their  swarthy  cheeks,  while  each  one  held  at  rest, 
Skyward  aslant,  a  long,  bright-pointed  lance 
Tasselled  with  colored  streamers  on  the  shaft 
Just  'neath  the  glittering  steel.     Four  hundred  more 
Of  these  swart  sons  of  Araby,  arrayed 
And  armed  as  were  the  cameliers, — save  that, 
At  the  right  side  of  each,  in  jewelled  sheath, 
Hung  a  keen,  crooked  sword,  with  hilt  of  gold, — 
Bestrode  four  hundred  steeds  as  beautiful 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHU  SHAN.  1 1 

As  they  were  fleet, — as  fleet  as  morning  light  ; 

As  true  as  tireless, — tireless  as  the  wind  ; 

As  gentle  as  courageous, — without  fear  ; 

Their  proud  heads  carried  well  on  arching  necks, 

Their  ready  ears  tilting  for  ev'ry  sound, 

Their  half  transparent  nostrils  drinking  in 

The  life  and  vigor  of  the  morning  air, 

Their  clear,  bold  eyes  obstructed  by  no  blind, 

Their  shining,  well  groomed  coats,  like  new-born  fur, 

Speaking  the  purest  strain  of  desert  barbs, 

Their  clean,  sound,  sinewy  limbs  and  supple  joints 

Traced  with  a  network  of  rich-blooded  veins, 

Their  clear,  firm  hoofs  unmarred  by  nail  or  shoe, 

As  hard  and  firm  as  blocks  of  adamant  ; 

And  so  they  moved  with  measured,  flexile  step, 

These  twice  two  hundred  steeds,  which  but  a  word — 

One  guiding  impulse  from  their  masters  all — 

Might  change  into  a  living  hurricane, — 

A  many-splintered,  rushing  thunderbolt, 

Flaming  with  banners,  glittering  with  steel. 

A  hundred  skilled  Assyrian  chariotiers, 
With  each  an  armed  archer  at  his  side, 
All  clad  in  shining  mail,  and  borne  along 
In  gilded  chariots,  followed  after  these  ; 
Each  chariot  drawn  by  two  impatient  steeds — 


12  VASHTI. 

Powerful  stallions,  eager  and  well  fed — 
Caparisoned  even  as  in  time  of  war 
In  armored  housings  :  champing  brazen  bits 
In  fierce  restraint,  with  their  wild  eyes  ablaze, 
And  tossing  angrily  their  heads  in  air, 
They  seemed  as  if  athirst  to  dash  away 
And  drag  the  murderous  chariot  scythes  among 
Some  unseen  hostile  host.     As  of  this  band, 
Four  hundred  mounted  spearmen  followed  on, 
Both  men  and  beasts  magnificent  in  strength, 
And  in  accoutrements,  and  trained  to  war  ; — 
Of  such,  as  in  the  days  long  past  had  made 
Assyria's  name  a  dread  and  a  reproach 
Unto  the  nations. 

Chaldea  next  in  line, — 
Five  hundred  sons  of  fallen  Babylon 
Moved  proudly  on,  their  jewelled,  polished  arms, 
Their  flashing  armor,  and  fleet-footed  steeds 
Caparisoned  in  trappings  trimmed  with  gold, 
Reflected  still  the  grandeur  of  their  state 
And  splendor  of  their  once  proud  capital. 
Gaily  they  rode  along,  while  o'er  their  heads 
The  Persian  banners  waved  above  their  own 
Borne  side  by  side  :  And  after  these  there  came 
Sad  and  dejected  and  of  downcast  mien 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  13 

A  mounted  troop  of  the  oft-times  dispersed — 
Remnant  of  Israel  from  far  Palestine, — 
Captor,  and  captive,  in  the  conq'ror's  train 
Thus  rode  along. 

A  troop  of  Syrian  horse 
From  distant  Tadmor's  desert-bounded  walls 
Followed  at  Israel's  heels  ;  and  after  these 
A  company  of  Damascan  cameliers 
Mounted  on  two-hunched  bactrians  ; 
And  then  there  passed,  in  the  imposing  line, 
A  troop  of  Phoenicians  from  the  coast 
Of  shell-paved  ^Egean  ;  and  followed  these, 
The  wonder  of  that  truly  wondrous  train, 
A  band  of  belted  bowmen,  yellow-skinned, 
Lithe-limbed  and  pouting-lipped,  all  richly  clad, 
In  fitting  hauberks  mailed  with  links  of  gold, 
Sandals,  and  quilted  turbans  feather-plumed, 
And  borne  in  chariots  drawn  by  fiery  steeds, 
And  blazoned  with  gilt  figures — ibises, 
And  bulls  and  crocodiles — of  things  revered 
In  Pharaoh's  land  of  monoliths  and  tombs. 
Egypt's  contingent  this  :  the  kingliest  troop 
Of  all  that  cavalcade  of  kingly  men  ; 
And  as  they  passed,  driv'n  by  their  chariotiers, 
'Neath  banners  blazoned  with  the  asp  and  scarab, 


14  VASHTI. 

The  head  of  Amun  and  the  Sun's  broad  disk, 
They  leaned  upon  their  bows,  gazed  straight  ahead, 
And  seemed  to  think  of  naught  save  that  past  time 
When  Egypt  led  the  world,  nor  ever  thought 
That  she  might  one  day  grace  a  conq'ror's  pageant. 
Five  hundred  fierce  Caducians  (from  the  north, 
Beyond  the  Caspian  Gates,)  renowned  in  war 
And  dextrous  with  the  deadly  javelin, 
Came  after  Egypt  on  their  tireless  steeds, 
In  light  fur  tunics  clad  ;  their  coarse,  wild  hair 
Trimmed  to  a  central  tussock  on  the  crown, 
Their  dark  brows  wound  about  with  purple  cloth 
Pinned  with  the  hooked  claws  of  savage  beasts ; 
Hard-visaged,  savage  men,  cruel  yet  brave, 
Armed  with  their  fav'rite  weapon,  and  with  bows, 
And  ready  arrows  quivered  at  their  backs, 
Guiding  their  chargers  with  a  single  rein. 

Then  came  a  band  of  Asiatic  Scyths, — 

A  troop  from  that  vast  horde  that  roamed  at  will 

North  of  the  Oxus,  reaching  to  the  banks — 

And  yet  beyond — of  broad  Jaxartes  stream, 

A  company  of  wild  barbaric  men 

Mounted  superbly,  armed  with  only  bows 

And  feathered  arrows,  fitted  with  bronze  heads, 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  15 

Which,  dipped  in  subtle  poison,  are  winged  death 
Sped  by  these  matchless  bowmen  in  fierce  battle. 

And  after  these  the  Parthian  heavy  horse, 

Five  hundred  strong — a  troop  of  giant  men — 

Mounted  on  powerful  steeds,  strong-limbed  and  tall, 

And  horse  and  rider  clad  in  rugged  mail 

Of  overlapping  scales  of  hammered  iron. 

Each  rider  wore  a  burnished  iron  casque, 

Surmounted  by  a  golden  blaze-like  point, 

Upon  his  head,  and  in  his  strong  right  hand, 

Balanced  at  rest,  he  bore  a  pond'rous  spear, 

While  with  his  left  he  guided  his  good  steed  ; 

And  so,  ten  in  each  rank,  they  moved  along, 

A  living  wall  of  rugged  strength  and  power, 

While  from  the  centre  of  each  seventh  rank, 

Borne  high  upon  a  tasselled,  cross-barred  staff, 

Floated  their  standard  of  the  rising  sun. 

Next  came  Armenians,  and  next  Lydians  came, 

And  so  troop  followed  troop  until  there  passed 

A  company  from  every  separate  tribe 

And  province  in  the  whole  far-reaching  empire  ; 

Three  continents  in  one  long  line  of  march — 

A  stream  of  waving  banners,  glittering  arms, 

And  men  of  martial  bearing  borne  along 


1 6  VASHTL 

On  elephants,  and  camels,  horses,  chariots, 

Till  lastly,  bringing  up  the  distant  rear, 

A  troop  of  stalwart,  coal-black  Ethiops, 

Nude,  save  a  short  skirt  round  their  ebon  loins, 

Bands  of  white  ivory  about  their  arms 

And  snow-white  plumes  upon  their  turbaned  heads, 

Came  into  view  like  a  dark  cloud  of  war  ; 

And  each  one  bore  an  ivory-pointed  spear 

With  a  long,  slender  shaft  of  polished  cane, 

Carried  at  level  poise  in  his  right  hand, 

Upon  his  forearm,  prest  against  his  side. 

On  dark  brown  steeds  well  seated,  ten  abreast, 

And  fifty  deep,  and  every  man  in  line, 

These  dusky  warriors  and  their  hardy  mounts 

Beneath  barbaric  banners  moved  along. 

Under  the  stately  palms,  outside  the  gates, 

Hard  by  the  palace  in  an  open  space 

Sloping  toward  the  walled  course  of  Chaospes, 

Upon  a  dais,  on  a  gilded  throne 

Approached  by  rows  of  cushioned  seats  like  steps 

One  o'er  the  other,  and  extending  out 

A  distance  right  and  left,  the  mighty  King, 

Now  having  quit  the  great  procession,  sate. 

Behind  him  stood  the  royal  fan-bearer 

And  holder  of  the  royal  parasol, 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  1 7 

Each  at  his  duty,  and  on  either  side 

A  dozen  tried  and  trusty  men-at-arms 

Magnificently  armored  and  equipped ; 

While  ranged  below  upon  the  sloping  ground 

And  facing  outward  in  ten  open  ranks, 

And  in  each  rank  a  thousand  chosen  men 

Extending  right  and  left  before  the  throne, 

Stood  the  King's  body-guard,  the  famed  IMMORTALS.1 

In  armored  hauberks  and  tall,  pointed  casques 

Of  steel,  becrested  with  a  winged  disk 

Of  hammered  gold,  and  each  on  his  left  arm, 

At  level  rest,  upheld  an  oblong  shield 

Of  plated  brass,  and  with  his  mailed  right  hand, 

Close  by  his  side,  held  his  keen-pointed  spear, 

Clasped  by  its  polished  shaft  of  cornel  wood, 

The  round  butt  planted  firmly  near  his  foot, 

The  hand-holt  wound  about  with  golden  wire, 

And  the  bright  two-edged  head  reaching  above 

1  The  "  Immortals"  were  a  corps  of  10,000  chosen  foot-soldiers, 
carefully  selected  from  among  the  Medes  and  Persians  only,  and 
maintained  by  all  the  early  Persian  monarchs  as  a  body-guard,  tak 
ing  their  name  from  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding  deaths  or  re 
movals  from  other  causes,  the  ranks  were  immediately  refilled,  and 
so  the  number,  10,000,  continuously  maintained.  The  "  Immor 
tals"  of  the  great  Xerxes  are  said  to  have  been  among  the  first 
troops  in  the  assault  at  Thermopylae,  and  at  that  time  to  have  been 
almost  exterminated  by  Leonidas  and  his  Greeks. 


1 8  VASHTl. 

The  golden  crest  upon  his  shining  helmet ; 
So  seemed  they  a  long  bank  of  brazen  shields 
Stubbled  with  lances,  like  a  harvest  glebe, 
Glorious  with  shining  crests  and  waving  banners  ; 
While  nearer  to  the  King,  upon  the  seats 
On  either  side  of  him,  and  yet  below, 
Sate  tributary  rulers,  satraps,  kings, 
High  officers  of  state  and  counsellors 
All  in  their  courtly  robes,  there  to  behold 
The  wondrous,  armed  pageant  of  the  nations. 
And  each  one  viewed  with  pride,  as  it  passed  by, 
The  troop  of  his  own  land,  and  heard  with  joy 
The  populace  send  up  its  mighty  shout 
Of  cordial  greeting. 

Following  on  this, 

After  the  great  procession,  in  the  eve, 
The  King  threw  open  to  his  noble  guests 
The  portals  of  his  palace,  great  Shushan, 
That  they  might  feast  their  eyes  upon  its  splendors 
And  there  behold  on  his  imperial  throne, 
Seated  in  royal  state,  the  King  himself, 
In  his  great  majesty,  to  welcome  them, 
And  entertain  them  even  as  he  willed 
According  to  his  pleasure.     So  the  women, 
In  a  like  manner,  Vashti,  the  fair  Queen, 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN. 

Even  at  the  royal  house,  would  take  in  charge 
To  give  them  pleasure  with  her  gracious  smiles, 
The  clear,  sweet  music  of  her  sisters'  harps 
And  sweeter  tones  from  their  yet  sweeter  lips 
Uniting  music  and  soft  dulcet  speech 
Into  seraphic  song. 

As  night  drew  on, 

And  daylight  faded  out,  the  pale,  dim  stars, 
Only  half  seen  at  first,  one  here,  one  there, 
Yonder  a  little  group,  a  cluster  still 
Directly  overhead,  timidly  showed  themselves 
Just  on  night's  threshold  ;  but  soon  growing  bold 
The  countless  astral  worldlets  stepping  forth 
Into  the  open  sky,  decked  its  blue  dome 
With  gems  of  wondrous  lustre. 

The  outer  court, 

And  royal  grounds  about  the  Great  King's  palace, 
The  trees,  along  the  walks  and  avenues 
And  in  the  groves,  and  round  the  pebbly  pools, 
Were  hung  with  lanterns  shedding  various  lights, 
Red,  green,  and  blue,  all  colors  of  the  bow, 
And  intermediate  tints,  till  all  the  park 
Like  a  vast  plot  set  with  tall  flow'ring  plants 
Shone  in  the  night  all  luminous  with  blooms 


2O  VASHTl. 

That  on  the  lakelets  glanced  their  wondrous  beams 
Where  white  swans  sailed  among  the  mirrored  stars. 

Within  the  palace,  in  the  circled  hall — 

The  throne-room  builded  by  the  Great  Darius — 

A  thousand  silver  lamps  with  chains  of  gold, 

Hung  from  the  high  arched  ceiling  of  blue  sapphire, 

Lit  with  their  flaming  cressets,  the  mock  sky 

Studded  with  brilliants,  like  the  constellations, 

To  represent  the  heavenly  firmament, 

(The  joint  production  of  Chaldean  science 

And  the  constructive  art  of  gifted  Greece.) 

And  this  was  horizoned  with  plates  of  pearl 

Whose  wat'ry  tints  shone  like  an  opal  sea 

In  wavy  lines  of  inter-melting  shade. 

Around  the  drap'ried  walls,  reaching  beyond 

The  circling  pillars  of  the  royal  dome 

In  all  ways  save  the  rear  ;  from  pedestal, 

And  bracket,  and  pilastered  niche,  looked  out 

Many  a  graven  image  of  white  marble, 

And  polished  ivory,  and  gilded  wood, 

With  form  and  features  of  great  heroes  past, 

Of  celebrated  warriors,  gifted  sages, 

Of  foreign  gods  and  personated  virtues — 

Chiselled  in  swelling  bust  and  full-length  statue. 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN. 

And  many  were  the  spoils  of  Persia's  wars, 
And  some  had  grown  beneath  the  magic  touch 
Of  Canachus  and  those  who  with  him  strove 
With  first  success  to  wed  Art  unto  Nature 
In  closest  semblance  ;  yet  who  sought  to  clothe 
The  Arts  and  Virtues,  and  the  gods  of  Greece 
In  human  form,  forever  yet  Divine 
And  most  suggestive  to  the  human  heart, 
And,  so,  most  claiming  human  sympathy 
And  reverential  worship. 

Toward  the  rear, 

And  facing  the  broad,  polished,  brazen  gate 
Of  the  main  entrance  to  the  great  rotunda, 
Upon  his  golden  throne,  whose  lion  feet 
Pressed  on  a  platform  of  the  whitest  marble 
Approached  by  marble  steps,  and  at  the  pave 
On  either  side  flanked  by  a  winged  monster, 
Half  human  and  half  beast,  of  carven  stone, 
The  King  Ahasuerus  sate.     On  either  side 
Near  to  the  throne  there  crouched  a  gilded  lion, 
And  o'er  his  head  there  arched  a  canopy 
Of  finest  Indian  silk,  befringed  with  gold, 
Upheld  by  golden  posts,  and  'broidered  o'er 
With  battle  scenes  and  pictures  of  the  chase. 
A  score  of  armored  spearmen  on  the  steps — 


22  VASHTI. 

Two  upon  each  in  facing,  rising  lines — 
Thus  guarded  the  approach  unto  the  King 
From  winged  sphynxes  to  the  golden  throne  ; 
And  when  the  noble  guests  had  entered  in 
To  the  great  circled  chamber  of  the  throne 
With  its  tall  fluted  pillars  ranged  around 
With  curtains  op'ning  into  flanking  halls, 
Each  did  prostrate  himself  before  the  King, 
Who  then  arose,  outstretched  the  golden  sceptre, 
Bade  all  arise,  then  took  one  forward  step, 
And  spake  his  greeting  thus  : 

"  Kings,  satraps,  princes  ! 
Chieftains,  wise  men  of  state,  and  counsellors  ! 
May  joy  attend  you  as  our  welcome  doth 
In  this  our  capitol  and  palace  Shushan. 
And  further  still,  in  this  behalf,  pray  you, 
Accept  our  royal  thanks,  in  that  ye  came 
So  promptly  to  us  at  our  instance  here 
(Proving  full  well  your  love  and  loyalty), 
That  we  might  see  you  all,  and  speak  with  you 
Concerning  various  matters  of  our  realm 
Wherein  we  all  have  common  interest ; 
So,  too,  ye  meet  ourself,  and  one  another, 
And  so,  each  knowing  all,  all  knowing  each  ! 
We  may  the  better  for  our  glorious  empire 
Take  common  counsel  and  united  action 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  23 

Should  the  occasion  come,  and  thus  prepared, 

With  the  just  sanction  of  the  immortal  gods 

We  shall  be  able  still,  as  we  have  been, 

To  well  uphold,  or  even  to  extend 

The  wise  dominion  of  our  common  realm. 

One  thing  provokes  our  wrath  as  may  it  yours — 

The  arrogance  of  the  Athenians, 

Who  since  they  'scaped  destruction  at  the  hands 

Of  our  majestic  father,  great  Darius, 

And  through  the  intervention  of  their  gods 

Obtained  the  victory  at  Marathon, 

Have  grown  so  mighty  in  their  own  esteem, 

And  yet  withal  so  blunt,  so  insolent, 

And  so  defiant  of  our  Persian  power 

As  well  to  earn  chastisement.     Sparta,  too, 

Is  contumacious,  and  with  other  states 

Beyond  the  ^Egean,  may  make  common  cause 

With  these  most  boastful  men  of  Attica — 

These  braggart  burners  of  our  city,  Sardis,1 

And  so  oppose  our  arms  with  no  mean  force  ; 

Yet,  the  more  sure  shall  be  their  overthrow, 

By  your  good  service,  when  the  time  shall  come. 

1  During  the  Ionian  revolt  an  expedition  was  led  against  Sardis  in 
which  the  Athenians  joined,  during  the  reign  of  Darius.  The  ex 
pedition  '*  had  taken  Sardis — it  had  burned  one  of  the  chief  cities  of 
the  Great  King." — Rawlinson's  An.  Men.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  482. 


24  VASHTI. 

After  the  term  of  our  festivities 

And  the  full  season  of  due  preparation, 

Then  shall  the  mightiest  host  that  man  e'er  saw — 

The  embattled  force  of  all  our  provinces, 

A  multitude  whose  tread  shall  shake  the  hills — 

Tramp  under  foot  our  boastful  enemies 

To  the  great  glory  of  our  whole  domain 

To  whose  most  splendid  seat  ye  now  are  come 

To  be  awhile  our  guests,  partake  our  cheer, 

And  look  upon  our  glory,  and  your  own, 

Vouchsafed  us  by  the  gods.     Welcome  again  ! 

Be  happy  and  content  !  " 

So  having  said, 

The  King  resumed  his  seat  upon  the  throne 
And  stretching  out  before  him  his  right  hand 
He  waved  the  golden  sceptre  to'ard  the  throng 
Denoting  thus  that  he  who  would  might  speak 
For  all,  or  for  himself. 

Then  stepping  forth, 

One  claiming  kin  with  great  Nebuchadnezzar 
(Whose  fame  and  greatness  once  had  filled  the  earth) 
And  King  of  Babylon  by  sufferance — 
Dividing  rule  with  a  cold  Persian  satrap 
Appointed  by  great  Xerxes  for  his  wisdom, 
His  firmness,  and  his  Zoroastrian  zeal — 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  2$ 

Bowed  very  low  and  then  addressed  the  throne 
Speaking  for  self  and  all  the  company, 
And  thus  : 

"  O,  King  of  Kings,  live  on  forever  ! 
Reign  ever  whilst  thou  livest,  and  be  happy  ! 
When  thou  dost  speak,  the  nations  list  and  heed, 
For  like  unto  thee  upon  all  the  earth 
There  is  not  one,  for  glorious  majesty, 
For  power,  for  feats  of  arms,  for  mighty  deeds, 
For  wealth  in  goods,  and  wisdom  in  thy  words, 
Thou  art  above  all  others  save  the  gods 
In  strength  to  overcome  thine  enemies 
And  to  uphold  thy  friends  !     Thy  subjects  we, 
Rulers  by  thee,  and  for  thee,  in  thy  stead, 
From  all  the  more  than  hundred  provinces 
Of  thy  far-reaching,  and  most  glorious  realm, 
Have  come  before  thee  here  at  thy  behest 
Feeling  much  honored  ;  and  we  pledge  thee  here 
On  bended  knees,  before  thy  kingly  throne, 
Our  trusty  faith  and  deathless  fealty, 
Our  heart's  blood  and  the  full  strength  of  our  arms 
In  the  upholding  of  thy  matchless  empire 
And  the  chastisement  of  thine  enemies, 
Come  whence  they  may,  or  if  thou  go  to  them, 
In  the  extending  further  of  thy  sway 
Over  the  world  that  knows  thee  not  as  yet 


26  VASHTI. 

As  King  above  all  others.     Furthermore, 
O  King  !  extend  unto  thy  Queen,  our  Queen, 
The  fair  and  faultless  Vashti  (whom  we  love 
For  her  great  virtues  as  we  love  our  mothers), 
Our  reverential  homage  and  our  prayers. 
Dismiss  thy  servant,  he  has  had  his  say." 

How  was  the  haughty  humbled !     Babylon, 

Whose  fierce  imperious  pride  once  could  have  brooked 

Naught  but  submission  to  her  own  behests — 

Whose  learning  was  the  treasure  of  the  world — 

Whose    art    had   reared   on   high   the   world's    fourth 

wonder — 

Who  from  her  massive  walls  and  brazen  gates 
Had  mocked  and  sneered  defiance  at  the  nations — 
Babylon,  who,  bitter  and  merciless, 
Had  dragged  her  conquered  to  captivity, 
Or  given  them,  disarmed,  unto  the  sword, 
With  insolent  taunts  of  the  fine  privilege 
Of  being  slaughtered  by  so  great  a  power — 
How  abject  was  she  now,  praising  her  chains 
And  glorifying  him  who  kept  them  locked 
About  her  once  free  limbs  ; — a  sycophant, 
Mouthpiece  of  sycophants,  who  under  stress 
Proclaim  their  own  abasement. 

Babylon 


THE  GREA  t  FAIR  A  T  SHUSHAN.  2J 

Being  dismissed,  the  King  called  his  musicians, 

The  singers  of  the  court,  the  psalterers, 

Harpers,  and  those  who  play  the  mellow  lute, 

To  come  before  his  majesty  and  sing 

And  play  before  his  august  company — 

His  guests  assembled  ;  and  they  came  and  stood 

A  goodly  company  and  all  trained  singers, 

One  from  each  tribe  and  nation,  till  they  told 

More  than  a  hundred  nations  of  the  realm, 

And  standing  there  four  deep,  they  raised  their  voices, 

And  strumming  to  themselves  accomp'niment 

Sang  with  a  wondrous  volume  and  rich  cadence 

Thus,  to  the  assembled  nations  : 

SONG    OF    THE    NATIONS. 

"  Come  sounding  from  the  Memphian  tombs 

The  triumphs  of  the  Pharaohs  ; 
Comes  echoing  from  the  Tyrian  looms 

The  tale  of  how  Phoenicia  rose  ; 
The  rebuilt  temple  courts  the  sun 
Whose  glory  shone  on  Solomon 

And  on  Judea's  woes. 

"  Still  Babylon's  wondrous  splendor  dwells 
Within  her  brazen  gates  and  halls  ; 


28  VASHTI. 

Assyria  her  greatness  tells 

From  Nineveh's  half-buried  walls  ; 
The  old-time  fame  of  Araby 
Comes  breathing  o'er  her  deserts  free 
In  incense-laden  calls. 

"  Of  old  the  mighty  Indus  spread 

The  prestige  of  the  Indian  name  ; 
The  Nile  tells  how  Sabaco  led 

His  Ethiopians  down  to  fame  ; 
Proud  Baalbec's  mighty  temple  sings 
The  fiery  song  of  Syria's  kings 
Which  glory  fans  to  flame. 

"  A  hundred  voices  of  the  sea 

Speak  of  proud  Grecia's  hundred  isles, 
Her  art  and  her  philosophy, 

And  from  Ionia's  splendid  piles 
The  cunning  of  her  builders'  hands 
Hath  shed  its  light  in  many  lands 

Like  to  the  sun-god's  smiles. 

"  The  Lydian  streams  o'er  golden  sands 
Flow  murm'ring  to  the  list'ning  sea, 
Telling  where  glorious  Sardis  stands 
Proud  of  her  fame  and  history. 


THE   GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHU  SHAN.  2g 

Armenia's  ark-famed  mountain  peak 1 
And  Bactria's  lofty  banners  a  speak  : 
'  The  pride  of  heroes  we/ 

"  Now  all  the  glories  that  we  sing 

Of  all  the  glorious  nations  named 

Unite  in  thy  great  realm,  O  King, 
And  all  the  fame  of  all  the  famed 

'Mong  nations,  neath  thy  royal  crown, 

Is  heightened  by  a  wide  renown 
More  than  each  erst  had  known. 

"  Sits  Persia  on  her  tabled  plains 

A  goddess  'mong  the  nations  fair 
O'er  which  Ahasuerus  reigns, 

And  lo,  the  nations  gathered  here 
Before  great  Xerxes'  golden  throne 
Behold  a  glory  half  their  own 

That  Persia  loves  to  share." 

1  Ararat. 

2  "  Bactria  was  a  country  which  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  having 
been  great  and  glorious  at  a  very  early  date.     In  one  of  the  most 
ancient  portions  of  the  Zendavesta  it  was  celebrated  as  '  Bakhdi 
eredhwo  drofsha  '  or  '  Bactria  with  the  lofty  banner.'  " — Rawlinson, 
Seven  Great  Monarchies,  vol.  ii.,  p.  440. 


3O  VASHTI. 

After  the  song,  and  sev'ral  melodies 

In  which  the  hundred  joined  with  instruments, 

In  a  sweet  wilderness  of  chording  sounds 

A  company  of  dancing  girls  were  called, 

Gazelle-eyed  Persian  maids  and  fair-haired  Greeks, 

Damsels,  with  eyes  of  night,  from  famed  Meroe, 

Egypta's  full-lipped  daughters,  lovely  Medes, 

Fair  Scythian  slave-girls,  captive  Jewesses, 

Lithe  Indian  maidens,  graceful  as  wild  swans, — 

A  sprightly  band,  as  beautiful  as  nymphs, 

With  willowy  forms  and  finely  rounded  limbs  ; 

They  came  before  the  royal  company 

And  to  the  notes  of  lute  and  clarionet 

Danced  with  a  sylph-like  grace,  and  as  they  danced 

The  pearls  that  hung  about  their  necks  in  strings 

Lay  milky-white  upon  their  heaving  breasts  ; 

Their  anklet  bells  tinkled  a  tiny  rhythm, 

Their  jewelled  arms  flashed  in  the  mazy  whirl, 

Heightening  the  charm  of  youth  on  their  flushed  cheeks, 

And  their  bright  eyes  shone  with  a  witching  light, 

While  scarce  their  feet  appeared  to  touch  the  floor, 

So  did  their  warm  young  spirits  seem  absorbed, 

And  they  so  buoyed,  by  the  enchanting  spell 

Of  music-prompted  motion.     Forming  at  length 

In  a  wide  circle,  hand  in  hand  they  moved 

With  motions  similar  and  steps  well  timed, 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHU  SHAN. 

Then  broke  in  single  line  and  disappeared 
Whence  they  had  come. 

Now,  after  these  had  gone, 
A  company  of  giants,  huge  and  tall, 
One  each,  from  all  the  nations,  strode  along 
And  formed  before  the  throne  a  crescent  line 
Saluting  all,  the  King  ;  and  lo,  there  stood 
On  the  extended,  open  palm  of  each, 
On  the  right  side,  a  dwarf  of  the  same  tribe, 
Clad  and  accoutred  e'en  as  was  the  wont 
Of  the  true  warriors  of  their  sev'ral  tribes  ; 
And  thus  was  represented  the  armed  power 
And  the  upholding  strength  of  all  the  realm 
Hedging  about  the  Great  King,  on  his  throne, 
Before  the  gathered  nations.     Then  the  dwarfs 
Leaped  from  the  giants'  palms  unto  the  pave 
And  formed  into  a  square,  and  there  performed 
The  warlike  evolutions  of  trained  troops 
Of  all  the  various  tribes,  each  being  trained 
In  all  the  various  movements  of  the  others, 
All  going  through  the  whole  in  unison 
With  wonderful  precision.     Then  all  bowed 
And  marched  from  view.     The  brawny  giants  then 
Exhibited  feats  of  prodigious  strength, 
Each  one  excelling  in  some  special  sense 
And  gaming  plaudits  from  the  company  ; 


32  VASHTL 

And  when  all  quit  at  length  the  royal  presence 

A  gray-beard  Indian  juggler  came  in  view, 

Bearing  a  bamboo  wand,  tipt  with  a  star — 

A  star  emitting  a  most  wondrous  light, 

Yet  not,  as  it  might  seem,  fixed  to  the  wand, 

And  made  of  polished  metal,  glit'ring  gem, 

Or  any  substance  that  men  understood, 

But  an  effulgent  spot  with  pointed  rays 

Spreading  in  all  ways  from  the  radiant  centre 

And  clinging  like  a  magnet  to  the  tip 

Of  that  plain,  simple  reed,  and  resting  there 

When  e'er  the  wand  was  still,  and  when  not  so, 

Then  chasing  after,  like  as  doth  a  shadow 

Follow  a  substance  in  the  shining  sun  ; 

And  as  he  stood  beneath  an  arche'd  passage 

He  seemed  a  moment  to  be  lost  in  thought, 

Then  made  a  low  obeisance  to  the  King 

And  to  the  royal  guests,  then  waved  his  wand, 

With  a  slow,  circling  motion,  in  the  air, 

When  lo  !  there  stood  before  him,  in  an  instant, 

Coming  no  one  knew  whence,  or  how,  or  why, 

A  dozen  tawny  men,  some  young,  some  old, 

All  seeming  by  their  garb  and  subtle  movements 

To  be  of  the  same  calling  with  the  first, 

And  they  did  there  perform  such  wondrous  feats, 

Such  arts  of  magic,  cunning  conjurings, 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHUSHAN. 

And  dextrous  tricks,  astonishing  eye  and  ear, 
As  quite  surprised,  as  well  as  entertained 
And  mystified  all  who  beheld. 

At  length, 

Again  the  gray-beard  wizard  waved  his  wand 
And  stamped  his  foot,  and  lo  !  he  was  alone. 
Then  bowing  low  once  more  before  the  King, 
He  cast  his  eyes  about  him  and  above, 
And  with  his  star-tipped  reed  waved  once  again, 
Telling  a  circle  slowly  through  the  air, 
Then  uttered  a  few  strange,  mysterious  words, 
At  which  a  half  score  vaguely  outlined  shapes 
Enshrouded  in  white  vapor,  and  illumed 
With  all  the  thousand  lamps  that  hung  above, 
Moved,  floating  in  mid-air  above  the  pave 
Till  in  the  central  space  before  the  throne, 
Then  rested  ;  when  the  mist  part  cleared  away, 
Revealing — now  reclining  on  a  cloud, 
In  miniature,  that  lay  in  fleecy  banks 
Beneath  them,  and  about  their  naked  feet — 
A  semicircle  of  the  loveliest  forms, 
And  faces  the  most  beautiful  to  view 
That  men  on  earth  did  ever  look  upon, — 
Bright-eyed  and  glorious-haired,  ripe-limbed 
And  ruby-lipped,  a  lovely  company — 
A  band  of  Peris  yet  awhile  detained 


34  VASHTl. 

From  the  celestial  fields  of  Paradise 

(Sweet  innocency  and  seraphic  smiles 

Lighting  their  beauteous  faces),  summoned  here, 

A  spectacle  before  the  wondering  nations  ; 

And  while  all  looked  and  marvelled,  moving  back, 

Waving  his  mystic  wand,  the  sorcerer 

Slowly  withdrew,  bowing  himself  from  sight  ; 

And  as  he  did  so  those  fair  virgin  forms 

Slowly  dissolved  from  view,  faded  away, 

Until  it  seemed  the  space  where  they  had  lain 

Recumbent  in  the  air  was  twice  more  vacant 

Than  all  the  empty  space  surrounding  it. 

Thus  with  diversions  various  and  strange 

Did  the  great  King  contrive  to  please  his  guests 

Throughout  the  evening  hours  ;  and  so  for  months, 

Day  after  day,  and  night  succeeding  night, — 

With  state  ceremonials  or  imposing  pageant, 

Some  musical  rehearsal,  priestly  rite 

(Wherein  each  people  worshipped  as  they  would 

According  to  their  several  beliefs 

And  'stablished  customs,  serving  their  own  gods), 

Some  wondrous  feats  of  supple  acrobats, 

Wild  dances  and  resplendent  pantomimes, 

Displays  of  horsemanship  by  the  lithe  Arabs, 

The  nomad  Scyths,  and  agile  Parthians 

All  mounted  on  their  best-trained,  swiftest  steeds  ; 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  35 

Wrestling  among  the  athletes  of  the  tribes 
Of  the  whole  empire  ;  trials  of  rude  strength, 
And  friendly  tournaments  and  jousts  at  arms, — 
Were  the  hours  rilled  with  rounds  of  joy  and  pleasure  ; 
Beside  the  feastings  and  the  merry-makings 
That  for  the  time  made  Shushan  the  chief  mart 
And  capitol  of  pleasure  of  the  world. 

And  now  for  six  bright  merry  months,  the  sun 

Had  shone  on  Shushan  as  a  glorious  camp 

Of  nations  gathered  to  make  holiday 

As  the  invited  guests  of  the  great  monarch  ; 

So,  ere  all  took  departure  for  their  homes 

The  King  proclaimed  an  universal  feast 

To  all  within  his  city,  great  and  small, 

For  seven  days,  in  the  broad  garden  court 

Of  his  great  palace,  'mid  most  dazzling  splendors  ; 

And  all  the  open  court  where  they  did  feast 

Was  paved  in  cunning  patterns  with  fine  marble, 

Black,  white,  and  red,  and  blue,  all  intermixed, 

And  laid  to  the  design  with  wondrous  skill, 

While  round  about,  tall  and  magnificent, 

Rose  fluted  columns  of  white  porphyry 

Spanned  with  light,  airy  arches  of  the  same, 

Keyed  with  the  tapering  necks  of  double  griffins, 

Whose  sturdy  heads,  faced  right  and  left  aloft, 


36  VASHTI. 

Formed  short  pilasters  for  a  carven  cornice  ; 

And  'twixt  the  columns  stretched  fine  linen  cords, 

Pale  blue  and  purple,  looped  o'er  hooks  of  gold, 

And  from  the  cords,  on  burnished  silver  rings, 

Hung  fairy  clouds  of  textile  handiwork — 

Damaskan  hangings,  curtains  from  Kashmir, 

Rich  silks  in  patterns  from  the  Indian  looms, 

Fine  textiles  wrought  in  Babylon  and  Tyre, 

Rare  stuffs  in  green,  and  gold,  and  blue,  and  white, 

Caught  back  between  the  pillars  here  and  there 

In  folds  of  shimmering  lustre,  and  made  fast 

O'er  golden  roses  set  on  silver  stems 

Fixed  in  the  columns'  shafts  ;  while  all  within 

Were  scores  of  playing  fountains  ranged  about 

Spurting  their  cooling  waters  high  in  air  ; 

And  here  and  there  a  clump  of  stately  palms 

Surrounded  by  a  lovely  bit  of  sward, 

Roses  in  bloom,  and  clumps  of  greenery 

Like  sweet  oases  in  a  marble  desert, 

Smiled  Nature's  smile,  there,  in  the  midst  of  Art. 

And  all  the  beds  whereon  the  guests  reclined 

While  at  the  royal  board,  were  of  fine  woods, 

All  richly  carven,  inlaid  with  fine  gold 

And  holstered  with  rare  textiles  and  bright  furs, 

And  every  guest  was  giv'n  a  golden  cup — 

Each  dif'ring  from  the  rest — wherefrom  he  drank 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHUSH  AN.  37 

Wine,  from  the  royal  vintage,  rare  and  old, 
Crushed  from  the  luscious  grapes  of  sunny  Helbon  ; 
And  every  one  did  drink  e'en  as  he  listed, 
None  urging,  none  withholding,  but  all  free, 
Till  on  the  seventh  and  last  day  of  the  banquet, 
The  King,  being  full  merry  with  much  wine, 
And  so  warmed  by  the  gen'rous  drink,  and  all 
His  senses  dulled  to  strict  propriety, 
And  in  his  heart  desiring  much  that  Vashti — 
Whom  graciously  the  people  reverenced — 
Should  come  before  the  assembled  company 
(Now  merry  in  their  cups  and  full  of  speech), 
Unveiled,  wearing  the  royal  crown  and  robes, 
That  all  the  people  there,  might  thus  behold 
Her  wondrous  beauty  and  sweet  queenly  grace, 
Ordered  his  chamberlains  to  summon  her 
Thus  to  the  kingly  presence  and  forthwith  ; 
Closing  the  hasty  order  to  them  thus  : 
"  Tell  her  the  King  awaits  her  !     Let  her  come  !  " 

And  so  they  went  and  did  the  king's  command, 
And  Vashti,  knowing  of  the  flow  of  wine 
Among  the  thousands  feasting  with  the  King, 
And  being  busied  with  her  own  fair  guests, 
Was  much  amazed  to  hear  the  king's  behest, 
And  thinking  surely  there  was  some  mistake 


38  VASHTI. 

Went  not,  but  told  the  chamberlains  to  come 

Yet  once  again,  were  't  still  the  king's  desire, 

And  she  would  hasten  to  him.     So  they  did 

And  came  before  the  King,  when  cold  Harbona, 

With  fixed,  immobile  face,  while  bowing  down 

Thus  spake  their  message  to  Ahasuerus  : 

"  O  King,  live  thou  forever  !     Thy  fair  queen 

Bade  us  repair  to  thee,  and  say  to  thee  : 

If  this  thing  be  thy  wish  unalterable 

To  send  us  once  again,  and  she  will  come 

In  haste  to  do  thy  bidding,  dutiful 

In  full  obedience." 

Then  the  King  with  rage 

Grew  red,  and  stamped  his  foot  and  swore  an  oath 
"  By  great  Cambyses'  sword  !     Am  I  defied 
In  my  own  household  ?  and  by  my  own  queen  ?  " 
Then  turning  fiercely  on  the  chamberlains 
He  ordered  them  away  but  not  to  Vashti ; 
And  when  he  had  in  measure  quieted 
The  storm  of  passion  raging  in  his  soul 
He  spake  unto  the  wise  men  who  sat  near — 
The  seven  princes  first  in  all  the  realm 
In  the  King's  favor,  and  his  counsellors — 
Saying  :  "  According  to  the  law,  of  right 
What  should  be  done  to  our  rebellious  queen 


THE  GREA  T  FAIR  A  T  SHU  SHAN.  39 

Who  thus  hath  set  at  naught  our  just  commands 
In  presence  of  our  realm,  here  represented 
By  our  illustrious  guests  convened  at  Shushan  ?  " 
And  Memucan,  most  forward  of  the  seven 
And  readiest  in  expedient  and  speech, 
Made  answer  to  the  King,  and  thus  : 

"  O  King ! 

Vashti  the  queen  hath  done  most  grievous  wrong 
In  this  her  stiff-necked  disobedience, 
And  not  to  thee  alone,  but  unto  all 
Thy  princes,  and  all  men  throughout  the  realm  ; 
For  this  deed  of  the  queen  shall  go  abroad 
On  eagles'  wings  and  speak  with  clam'rous  tongues, 
So  that  all  women  soon  shall  hear  of  it, 
And  shall  despise  their  husbands  ;  even  so 
Our  ladies  here  in  Persia,  Media, 
Shall  treat  thy  princes,  hearing  of  this  deed. 
If  this  thing  go  unpunished,  unrebuked, 
Who,  of  the  countless  husbands  in  the  land 
Shall  after  this  hold  sway  in  his  own  house  ? 
Or  if  some  may  by  dint  of  self-assertion 
Manage  to  govern  still  in  their  own  homes, 
Yet  were  it  true,  the  queen  hath  this  day  sown 
The  seeds  of  such  domestic  bickerings, 
Mockings,  denials  of  authority, 


4O  VASHTI. 

Railings,  dissimulations,  and  contempts, 

As  in  their  springing  up  and  noxious  growth 

Will  smother  quiet  peace  and  harmony 

And  blossom  with  dissensions,  spleen  and  wrath 

And  all  confusions.     Now,  O  King, 

If  it  so  please  thee,  let  it  be  decreed 

As  thy  commandment  royal,  and  be  writ 

Among  our  laws,  that  it  may  not  be  changed, 

That  Vashti  come  no  more  before  the  King  ; 

And  do  thou  give  away  her  whole  estate 

And  her  insignia  of  royalty 

Unto  another  worthier  than  she  ; 

So,  when  thou  hast  commanded  and  decreed 

And  published  the  decree  throughout  the  realm, 

All  wives  shall  yield  obedience  to  their  husbands 

And  duly  honor  them." 

The  King  seemed  pleased 
With  these  suggestions  of  fierce  Memucan, 
And  being  stayed,  and  their  cool  reason  checked 
By  the  hot  torrent  of  his  sounding  words 
No  other  prince  did  raise  his  voice  against  it  ; 
And  so  the  King  proclaimed,  e'en  as  advised, 
With  many  else  severe  particulars, 
And  so  decreed  against  the  youthful  queen, 
And  all  was  written  down  among  the  laws 
Of  Media  and  Persia,  by  the  scribes. 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  41 

Then  went  there  criers  through  the  city  Shushan, 
And  couriers  post-haste  thro'  all  the  realm 
To  publish  what  was  writ,  in  many  tongues, 
To  make  it  understood  'mong  all  the  people. 

Next  day  the  King  did  call  the  eunuchs  in — 
Even  the  seven  trusty  chamberlains, 
And  as  they  waited  near  on  bended  knees 
Cowering  before  the  King's  still  blazing  wrath 
He  spake  unto  them  saying  : 

"  Slaves,  attend ! 

Go  to  the  woman  Vashti !     Our  decree 
Fail  not  to  execute,  but  carry  out 
Even  to  the  very  letter  as  't  is  writ  ! 
Rid  her  of  all  her  goods  !     Rid  me  of  her  ! 
This  palace  rid  of  disobedience  ! 
The  law  is  your  instruction  !     Now  be  gone  ! " 

So  they  went  forth  into  the  women's  house 
And  in  a  half  hour's  course  came  Mehuman — 
One  of  the  seven,  noted  for  his  great  strength, 
Kindness  of  heart,  and  never- daunted  courage — 
Again  before  the  King,  and  stood  there  pale 
As  marble  statue,  and  he  seemed  as  calm. 
Then,  bowing  low  at  first,  stood  up  erect 
And  spake  unto  the  King  whose  cloudy  brow 


42  VASHTI. 

Frowned  fiercely  on  him  as  he  said  and  thus  : 

"  O  King,  pardon  thy  humblest  slave,  or  let 

Thy  vengeance  smite  him,  as  thou  seest  fit, 

For  from  my  heart  the  queen  did  wring  a  promise 

To  come  to  thee  and  say  :  *  Ahasuerus,  King 

Of  Persia,  Media,  and  the  provinces 

Did  promise  unto  Vashti  his  young  queen 

Upon  her  nuptial  day,  that  any  wish 

She  then  did  have,  or  after  might  express, 

E  'en  to  the  granting  of  one  half  his  kingdom, 

Should  not  be  made  in  vain  !     And  now  the  queen 

Doth  humbly  beg  of  him  to  stretch  his  hand 

Forth  with  the  golden  staff  that  she  may  come 

To  speak  her  wish  before  him,  and  to  shew 

The  innocency  of  her  breaking  heart 

Plainly  unto  him.'  " — Purpling  with  wild  rage 

Thus  brake  the  King  upon  him  : 

"  Daring  knave  ! 

Emasculated  worm  !     Mutinous  wretch  ! 
How  durst  thou  stand  and  look  me  in  the  face 
And  speak  to  me  of  given  promises  ? 
Go  tell  the  woman  that  the  thing  she  says 
Was  spoken  to  the  queen  !     She  is  not  such, 
But  a  banned  outcast !     Go,  mad  fool ! 
Do  as  thou  'rt  bid  ;  and  know  that  on  the  morrow 
Thy  traitorous  tongue  that  thus  dared  speak  to  me, 


THE  GREAT  FAIR  AT  SHU  SHAN.  43 

Shall  be  cut  from  thy  mouth,  and  thy  cold  eyes 

That  dared  look  unabashed  into  my  face 

While  thou  didst  speak  thy  treason,  shall  be  made 

That  they  may  never  so  again  offend." 

So  he  who  knew  not  fear,  went  forth  in  silence 

To  duty,  and  to  doom,  each  worse  than  death. 


BOOK  II. 

VASHTI. 

A  S  rose  the  Summer  sun  above  the  plain 
**     Stretching  away  to'ard  the  Sargatian  desert, 
In  a  lone  outskirt  of  the  city  Shushan, 
Beside  a  walled-in  pool,  beneath  the  shelter 
Of  some  great  palms  that  clustered  round  about 
As  if  they  too  had  come  to  quench  their  thirst 
With  the  cool  waters  that  they  hedged  around, 
A  woman  young  and  fair,  but  with  the  seal 
Of  grief  set  deep  upon  her  youthful  face — 
A  woman  in  the  coarse  garb  of  disgrace 
And  deep  humiliation,  stooping,  dipped 
A  gourd  of  water  from  the  pool  and  drank  ; 
And  when  she  'd  slaked  her  thirst  she  looked  about, 
Heaved  a  deep  sigh,  then  gazed  into  the  pool, 
Saying  :  "  This  still  is  left  !     I  may  come  here 
Even  as  the  beggars  do ;  and  if  I  haste 
To  come  at  early  morn,  I  yet  may  drink 

44 


VASHTI.  45 

Without  disturbing  any  other  soul 

With  my  shunned,  dreaded  presence  ;  and  the  Sun — 

0  Mithra  !  in  the  glory  of  thy  rising, 

1  still  may  look  upon  and  worship  thee, 
As  being  the  best  gift  of  the  all-wise 
And  all-beneficent  Ahura  Mazda 

To  everything  that  lives  upon  the  earth  ; 

And  the  sweet,  balmy  air,  I  breathe  it  still 

And  feast  my  eyes  on  Zagros'  distant  summits 

With  no  one  to  forbid  or  hinder  me  ; 

What  else  ?  aye,  what  ?     A  morsel  now  and  then, 

A  beggar's  dole,  given  in  fear  or  shame 

Or  mayhap  both.     And  who  am  I  that  mourn 

And  wail  my  poor  estate  unto  myself, 

Scarce  knowing  if  the  things  I  see  are  real, 

Or  if  the  griefs  I  feel  are  actual, 

Or  if  the  words  I  utter  yet  have  meaning 

According  to  the  import  of  plain  speech  ? 

Since  scarce  I  know  if  I  be  sane  or  mad. 

And  since  how  long  ?  a  fortnight  or  a  month  ? 

Or  more  than  this,  or  less  ?  I  cannot  tell  ! 

But  it  seems  very  long  that  I  have  suffered, 

And  yet  so  short  a  time  since  I  was  happy. 

"  Comparing  what  I  was  with  what  I  am — 
But  yesterday  I  was  a  queen  whose  crown 


46 


Blazed  with  the  glitter  of  a  thousand  gems 
The  choicest  in  a  hundred  provinces 
Sent  by  a  hundred  tributary  kings, 
With  flattering  words  to  King  Ahasuerus 
And  to  myself,  each  begging  that  the  stones 
That  each  had  sent  might  find  an  humble  place 
In  my  tiara.     *  Vashti,  the  gracious  queen  !  ' 
'  Vashti  the  beautiful,  whom  all  revere  !  ' 
'  Vashti,  whose  virtues  are  on  every  tongue  !  ' 
'  Vashti,  the  star  of  thy  most  kingly  court  !  ' 
*  Vashti,  whose  light  is  like  the  rising  sun 
Thro'  all  the  kingdoms  of  thy  mighty  realm  !  ' 
These  and  a  hundred  more  of  like  import 
Were  honeyed  messages  the  couriers  brought 
From  all  the  chiefs  and  rulers  far  and  near 
In  praise  of  Vashti.     Media,  Persia,  sang 
The  praise  of  Vashti.     No  one  save  the  King, 
From  Indus  to  the  Ethiopian  plains, 
In  all  the  tributaries  of  the  realm 
Had  more  of  honors  or  emoluments. 
Princes  and  mighty  men  did  bring  for  me, 
Laying  them  at  the  feet  of  the  great  King, 
Rare  gifts  in  great  profusion  of  such  kind 
As  was  most  perfect  in  their  sev'ral  lands,  — 
Incense  and  spices  from  far  Araby 
And  horses  fleet  's  the  wind,  and  beautiful 


VASHTI.  47 

As  morning  light,  and  graceful  as  gazelles. 
And  came  from  Tyre  rich  store  of  royal  purple, 
Yield  of  her  looms  ;  rare  jewels  of  fine  gold, 
Clasping  with  tiny  fingers  deftly  wrought 
Gems  like  the  stars  of  night  for  brilliancy, 
And  also  thence  came  cunning  furniture 
Wrought  from  the  cedar  wood  of  Lebanon, 
Perfumed  in  grain  and  fibre  with  sweet  scents, 
Inlaid  with  gold  and  pearl  and  ivory 
And  builded  for  my  chambers.     From  Kashmir, 
And  from  great  Babylon's  and  Borsippa's  looms, 
Rare  shawls  and  costly  stuffs,  rich  tapestries 
And  cloth  of  silver  thread  and  woven  gold 
Fashioned  in  curious  patterns  and  designs  ; 
Carpets  and  figured  hangings  and  rare  lace. 
And  from  the  jungles  of  the  further  East 
Rich  store  of  peltries — wondrous  tiger  skins 
Whose  tawny  ground  traversed  with  glossy  bars 
Of  darker  fur,  are  to  the  touch  as  down  ; 
Leopards'  sleek  coats,  their  clear-lined,  ebon  spots 
Sprinkled  at  random  on  a  field  of  gold, 
And  the  soft  yielding  vestment  of  the  ounce, 
All  painted  by  that  glowing  Indian  sun 
With  dyes  of  beauty  ;  till  my  'partments,  draped 
With  rarest  fabrics  of  the  weaver's  skill, 
And  carpeted  with  rugs  that  each  had  cost 


48  VASHTI. 

Some  jungle  tyrant  his  ferocious  life, 

Were  deemed  a  gorgeous  wonder  to  behold  ; 

From  those  warm  shores  they  also  sent  to  me 

Some  beauteous  bright-winged  birds  of  paradise 

And  golden  pheasants,  trogans,  promerops, 

Until  they  thronged  the  outer  groves  of  Shushan 

And  the  tall  trees  that  grace  the  open  court 

Near  by  the  palace,  which  at  times  appeared 

Abloom  with  life  and  color.     From  the  coast 

Of  Caspian,  and  distant  western  shores 

They  brought  me  store  of  amber  and  quaint  shells ; 

And  agates  from  the  desert.     From  the  South, 

And  from  the  tribute  islands  of  the  sea, 

Opals  and  jaspars,  sards,  and  turquoises, 

Ambergris,  and  much  goods  of  woven  grass, 

Rare  strings  of  milk-white  pearls,  and  pearls  in  bulk 

Like  winnowed  seeds  for  plenty.     From  the  West 

The  choicest  offerings  of  Syria 

And  distant  Egypt.     So  sent  Palestine 

Some  golden  relics  from  the  house  of  God — 

From  David's  city,  e'en  Jerusalem, 

Part  of  King  David's  store,  and  Solomon's, 

Broken  and  spoiled  at  the  Captivity 

Nor  coming  to  Nebuchadnezzar's  hand, 

So  not  included  in  Great  Cyrus's  gift, 

But  of  the  remnant  left  in  Israel 


VASHTI.  49 

And  being  not  restored  were  sent  to  me 
As  rich  mementoes  of  a  great  event. 

"  Scarce  hath  a  caravan  from  east,  or  west, 

The    plains    and    mountains    north,    or    wave-washed 

shores 

Of  southmost  Araby,  come  into  Shushan 
In  these  three  years  that  hath  not  brought  some  gift 
(With  the  consent  of  King  Ahasuerus) 
To  Vashti  with  the  master-merchant's  words 
Of  loyal  reverence,  till  my  store  hath  been — 
In  all  the  realm  produces,  or  the  skill 
Of  all  its  peoples  fashions  cunningly — 
Of  great  abundance,  and  enabled  me 
(Not  drawing  on  the  King's  munificence 
At  all  times  royal  and  unlimited) 
To  live  in  splendor  as  befits  a  queen, 
And  give  with  hand  unstinted,  as  I  wished. 
So  all  the  women  of  the  royal  house, 
My  lovely  sisters — wives  unto  the  King — 
Shared  in  my  bounty,  and  returned  my  love ; 
For  surely  I  did  love  them  as  my  soul, 
And  as  I  loved  none  other  save  the  King, 
And  my  heart's  joy,  my  babe,  now  mine  no  more — 
In  all  the  world,  that  death  has  spared  to  me  ; 
And  who  could  help  but  love  them  ?  their  sweet  youth, 


5O  VASHTI. 

The  innocency  of  their  guileless  lives, 

Their  wondrous  beauty,  and  their  helplessness, 

Their  trusting  natures  and  their  pretty  ways, 

Alone,  had  won  a  colder  heart  than  mine. 

I  loved  them  further  that  they  loved  the  King, 

Who  took  delight  in  their  companionship 

Next  to  my  own  ;  and  often  in  the  court, 

Or  place  in  common  of  the  women's  house, 

They  gathered  round  me  like  a  wall  of  flowers 

And  held  their  pretty  lips  up  to  be  kissed, 

And  twined  their  soft  arms  round  my  neck  and  spake 

Such  tender  words,  so  full  of  boundless  love, 

So  laden  with  desire  to  please  me  well, 

That,  tho'  I  was  as  young  as  most  of  them, 

I  came  to  look  upon  the  fairy  nymphs 

As  my  own  children  in  reality, 

As  oft  they  called  themselves  in  their  sweet  speech  ; 

And  I  would  look  upon  them  with  a  pride 

Such  as  methinks  a  mother  well  might  feel 

In  feasting  her  fond  eyes  on  the  fair  forms 

And  fairer  faces  of  her  own  sweet  daughters 

Grown  to  the  first  estate  of  womanhood 

And  yet  still  full  of  girlish  playfulness. 

Oft,  too,  with  psaltery  and  tuneful  lute 

They  played  to  give  me  joy,  until  the  drops 

Of  glittering  water  thrown  up  from  the  jets. 


VASHTL  51 

Of  the  surrounding,  ever-playing  fountains 

Like  showers  of  shining  pearls,  on  their  return 

Into  the  fountain  bowls  of  porphyry, 

Seemed  like  the  rhythmic  falling  of  sweet  sounds 

Self-tuned  and  mingled  into  melody. 

And  some  would  raise  their  voices  clear  and  soft 

As  balmy  breezes  wantoning  o'er  the  strings 

Of  an  else-untouched  harp,  and  improvise, 

At  times,  some  little  song  to  praise  the  queen  ; 

And  in  my  desolation,  even  now 

One  of  these  little  nothings  to  my  lips 

Springs  all  unbidden,  and  the  irony 

Of  changed  conditions  gives  to  it  a  voice, 

Of  mocking  bitterness,  and  yet  its  words 

Do  fascinate  me  in  my  misery, 

And  thus  I  seem  to  hear  them  in  the  air. 

"  VASHTI    OUR    QUEEN. 

"  *  All  hail,  our  lovely  queen, 

The  first  of  women  she, 

Of  whom  no  evil  can  be  said, 

To  whom  all  Media  bows  the  head 

And  Persia  bends  the  knee. 

"  '  In  beauty  unsurpassed, 
Yet  not  so  fair  as  good, 


52  VASHTI. 

Queen  of  a  hundred  states  and  thrones 
And  loved  of  all,  thy  worth  atones 
All  sins  of  womanhood. 

"  '  Our  great  King's  life  and  love 
Are  centred  in  thy  eyes, 
For  Vashti  is  the  queenly  star 
Who  lights  the  throne  of  Persia  far, 
As  Orion  lights  the  skies 

"  '  From  Ethiopia's  sands 
To  Indus's  watery  wall 
Is  Vashti's  goodness  as  the  rain 
That  falls  upon  the  thirsty  plain 
A  heritage  to  all.' 

"  What  a  strange  commentary  on  my  past 
Would  be  the  recitation  of  my  present ! 
But  I  've  no  need  to  speak  my  present  state, 
It  is  upon  me  visible  to  all, 
And  more  apparent  to  myself  than  any  ; 
Others  behold  me  but  a  little  while, 
One  for  a  moment  now,  another  then, 
But  to  myself  I  always  am  in  sight, 
And  should  I  wish  to  quite  forget  myself 
And  draw  a  veil  of  darkness  o'er  the  past 


VASPITL  53 

Some  finger  will  be  raised  at  me  in  scorn, 
Some  voice  will  mutter  *  Vashti,'  dreaded  name, 
Which  but  to  speak  aloud  will  clear  the  ground — 
Of  ev'ry  thing  that  's  human  and  can  hear — 
About  me  like  a  sudden  thunderbolt 
That  threatens  repetition  where  it  falls. 

"  My  fair  young  sisters  of  the  women's  house, 

I  never  shall  set  eyes  on  them  again  ! 

No  more  shall  I  behold  my  little  son, 

Nor  shall  I  ever  look  upon  the  King, 

For  when  he  goes  abroad  the  streets  are  cleared 

Or  all  unworthies  against  whom  a  ban 

Of  any  sort  hath  been  decreed  and  writ. 

And  the  great  palace,  and  the  royal  grounds 

Are  doubly  guarded  against  such  as  I, 

While  those  whose  duty  is  not  to  repel, 

Flee  from  me  like  the  touch  of  pestilence. 

The  common  people  whom  I  always  helped 

In  some  way  by  a  silent  charity 

Shrink  from  my  presence  with  averted  looks 

And  downcast  faces.     Bondsmen  and  rude  slaves 

Hold  me  beneath  them.     Beggars  turn  aside 

As  tho*  I  were  contagion.     Yesterday, 

While  wandering  aimlessly,  thoughtlessly,  straying 

Beyond  the  city's  limits  till  I  came, 


54  VASHTI. 

Not  knowing  it,  to  some  low  wretched  huts 

Given  over  to  the  moving  breathing  dead, 

A  shrivelled  leper,  hideous  with  sores, 

But  chanced  to  hear  my  name,  as  I  passed  by 

The  little  open  area  where  he  lay 

Sunning  the  relics  of  his  misery, 

When,  with  a  piteous  groan,  he  crawled  away, 

Dragging  his  dead  limbs  after,  in  such  haste, 

With  such  a  seeming  agony  of  fear 

Portrayed  on  his  wild  hopeless  face,  as  he 

Cast  o'er  his  shoulder  one  despairing  glance, 

As  filled  my  soul  with  horror.     This  poor  wretch 

In  whose  decaying  frame  besieging  death 

Mocked  at  the  feeble  garrison  of  life — 

This  poor  and  half-dead  lump  of  loathsomeness, 

Instead  of  fleeing  with  the  cry  '  unclean ' 

To  warn  against  infection  through  himself, 

Seemed  terrified  lest  that  my  moral  taint 

Should  spread  upon  the  atmosphere  he  breathed 

And,  mingling  with  the  humors  of  his  flesh, 

Thus  work  his  quick  extinction. 

"  O  poor  soul  ! 

When  I  have  thought  of  such  as  he,  ere  now, 
It  seemed  to  me  the  harvest  of  all  woes, 
The  sum  of  all  the  earth's  calamities 
Was  heaped  upon  them,  and  that  sudden  death, 


VASHTI.  55 

Would  be  of  all  things  what  they  most  desired 

And  prayed  for  most  when  they  invoked  their  gods  ; 

And  yet  this  man,  this  worst  of  all,  this  prince 

Of  all  the  world's  afflicted,  as  I  think, 

Betrayed  such  fear  as  shewed  a  love  of  life 

And  a  keen  sense  of  nice  propriety. 

And  why  should  they  show  fear  to  whom  this  life 

Would  seem  an  awful  burthen  ?  why  shun  death, 

If  but  a  severance  from  misery 

And  the  deep  loathing  of  their  fellow  men, 

Unless  their  life  has  still  some  pleasant  sense 

In  all  its  waste  of  pain  and  bitterness — 

Some  green  oasis,  bright  with  trees  and  flowers, 

And  cool  and  fresh  with  never-failing  springs 

Amidst  the  weary  desert  of  their  ills, 

Or  some  fair  island,  smiling  far  away, 

In  all  their  ocean  of  calamity  ? 

It  must  be  thus  !  else  had  this  blighted  wretch 

Ne'er  shown  such  signs  of  abject  piteous  fear. 

And  I,  to  think  that  I  inspired  such  fear  ! 

I,  who  so  oft  compassioned  such  as  he, 

Myself  not  granted  e'en  his  poor  compassion, 

But  only  feared  and  fled  from.     I  so  soon 

(For  it  doth  seem  me  as  but  yesterday) 

From  being  the  first  woman  in  the  world, 

Queen  o'er  a  hundred  nations,  am  proclaimed 


56  VASHTI. 

The  veriest  outcast  in  the  universe, 
Shunned  and  avoided  most  of  all  that  live 
Within  the  shadow  of  the  throne  I  shared. 

"  And  why  ?  what  have  I  done  against  the  law  ? 

What  sin  have  I  committed  that 's  too  black 

To  be  forgiven  alike  of  gods  and  men  ? 

Have  I  wrought  any  mischief  in  the  realm 

By  covert  treason,  or  unbridled  speech  ? 

Have  I  been  cruel  to  the  populace, 

Using  th'  king's  favor  to  do  deeds  of  blood 

Or  any  manner  of  oppressive  wrong? 

Have  I  strayed  from  the  faith  of  Zoroaster? 

Or  failed  in  aught  toward  our  Persian  gods  ? 

Or  kindled  the  king's  wrath  against  the  Magi  ? 

Or  lacked  in  reverence  for  Aura  Mazda  ? 

Or  of  the  sacred  fire  that  ever  burns 

On  our  hill  temples'  ever  holy  altars  ? 

No,  surely  no,  not  any  one  of  these  ! 

Brought  I  dishonor  to  the  royal  bed  ? 

Or  played  with  my  affections  for  the  King  ? 

Or  brought  I  any  scandal  to  the  court  ? 

Or  was  I  filled  with  idle  vanities 

Seeking  the  praise  of  all  the  empire's  people, 

Save  as  a  woman  may  at  all  times  seek 

The  whole  world's  praise  by  trying  to  do  good  ? 


VASHTI.  57 

No,  no  again  !   again  a  thousand  times  ! 

How  wildly  beats  my  poor  heart  in  my  breast 

As  tho'  'twere  wounded  by  the  questioned  thought  ! 

How  does  it  throb  to  vindicate  itself 

Till  each  pulsation  is  a  clamorous  '  No  ! ' 

Have  I  shown  aught  but  kindness  to  the  King  ? 

Or,  knowing  what  he  willed,  have  I  withheld 

To  yield  unto  his  will  obedience  ? 

Alas  !  my  troubled  soul  doth  seem  to  sink 

And  almost  die  within  me  when  I  hear 

Or  think  of  that  one  word  obedience. 

For  lack  of  it  behold  me  what  I  am  ! 

An  outcast  wanderer,  whom  to  cheer  or  aid 

Is  but  to  court  displeasure  of  the  King  ! 

For  lack  of  it  I  am  robbed  of  a  crown 

And  turned  adrift  clothed  in  a  beggar's  rags  . 

For  lack  of  it  I  've  lost  a  Kingdom's  homage, 

And  found  a  Kingdom's  contumely  instead  ! 

For  lack  of  it  ! — but  O  my  soul  !  enough  ! — 

I  have  lost  all  I  had  but  this  poor  life, 

And  found  all  I  had  not,  save  only  death  ; 

And  if  I  'd  lost  or  found  but  one  thing  more 

It  had  been  better  ;  and  the  pitying  breeze 

(All  that  will  listen  to  my  poor  complaint) 

Had  not  been  burdened  with  this  breath  of  woe. 

And  yet  't  was  only  once  in  all  my  life, 


58  VASHTI. 

Then  but  in  form  and  scarcely  so  in  fact, 

That  I  e'er  thought  to  disobey  the  King ; 

For  when  he  sent  to  me  his  chamberlains 

With  the  request  that  I  attend  at  once 

Before  himself  and  all  the  tribute  kings 

And  all  the  mighty  princes  of  the  realm 

And  the  great  captains,  magnates,  and  what  not, — 

To  come,  crowned,  and  unveiled  before  all  these  ; 

I  was  astonished,  grievously  perplexed, — 

And  scarce  knew  what  I  did,  or  what  I  said, 

Or  what  I  ought  t'  have  done  ;  for  I  was  told 

The  King  was  quite  hilarious  with  much  wine, 

And  that  the  people,  and  assembled  guests, 

With  mellow  vintage  all  too  freely  used 

Had  laid  aside  much  of  their  dignity, 

And  in  their  boist'rous  mirth  were  quaffing  still 

Even  when  the  King  so  strangely  summoned  me 

Unto  the  pillared  garden  of  the  feast 

To  be  the  target  of  ten  thousand  eyes, 

All  by  the  King's  request  turned  upon  me 

To  view  my  beauty.     Over  sensative, 

I  thought  of  their  bold  eyes  and  maudlin  speech 

(All  ten  times  worse  than  was  the  truth,  no  doubt),- 

And  it  did  seem  as  tho'  I  could  not  bear 

To  undergo  an  ordeal  like  that, 

And  that  the  King  must  surely,  when  he  came 


VASHTI.  59 

To  view  the  matter  calmly  afterward, 
Even  praise  my  action,  and  himself  be  glad 
I  had  withheld  from  coming  for  a  while. 
Still  did  I  hesitate,  besieged  with  doubts, 
Until  I  chanced  to  think  that  once  the  King, 
After  the  nuptials,  on  our  wedding  day, 
Had  told  me  and  assured  me  graciously, 
That  any  wish  of  mine  made  known  to  him, 
E'en  to  the  giving  of  one  half  his  kingdom, 
Would  speedily  be  granted.    So  I  thought 
This  one  offence,  if  such  it  were  construed, 
Would  straightway  be  condoned  at  my  request, 
(For  never  had  I  once  besought  the  King 
For  any  favor,  never  having  need, 
For  every  wish  I  'd  had  ere  it  found  voice 
He  had  anticipated,  yea  and  more), 
And  thinking  so,  I  bade  the  chamberlains 
To  take  my  poor  excuses  and  regrets, 
Which  I  did  frame  for  them,  unto  the  King, 
And  if  not  well  received,  beg  to  return 
That  I  might  yet  go  to  him  ;  and  they  went, 
Nor  came  again,  and  so  for  a  short  time 
I  thought  that  all  was  well  ;  but  soon  my  soul 
Was  troubled  with  misgivings,  and  next  day, 
As  I  sat  on  a  divan  'mong  my  maids, 
My  sisters,  and  the  royal  company — 


60  VASHTI. 

To  entertain  whom  in  the  women's  house 
Had  been  for  months  my  pleasant  daily  duty — 
I  heard  the  criers,  running  thro'  the  streets, 
Proclaiming  with  loud  voice  unto  the  world 
Words  that  at  first  I  could  not  understand, 
But  as  they  came  still  nearer  I  did  hear  : 
*  The  great  King  hath  decreed,  and  it  is  writ 
Down  in  the  chronicles  a  changeless  law 
Of  Persia,  Media,  and  the  Provinces — 
Vashti  is  banned  for  disobedience 
Unto  the  King,  and  she  shall  come  no  more 
Into  the  presence  of  the  King,  forever '  j 

"  Darkness  !     I  heard  no  more  !     I  saw  no  more  ! 
Nor  lived  I  more,  for  I  know  not  how  long ; 
For  the  still  silence  of  unconsciousness 
Enwrapt  me  like  a  mantle  ;  till  at  length, 
When  the  red  tide  within  my  rigid  veins 
Moved  once  again  in  its  retarded  course 
(Like  day-break  struggling  thro'  a  bank  of  clouds) 
And  consciousness  returned,  op'ning  my  eyes 
I  saw  again  the  king's  seven  chamberlains 
Standing  about  me  with  fixed  purposed  look, 
And  all  the  women  pale  and  horrified 
Gazed  on  me  from  a  little  distance  back 
Wringing  their  hands  and  moaning  piteously. 


VASHTL  61 

My  fair  dear  sisters,  too,  sobbed  in  distress, 

And  my  sweet  babe,  held  in  his  nurse's  arms, 

Stretched  forth  his  little  hands  and  crooned  to  me  ; 

Then  for  a  moment  all  again  was  dark. 

But,  rallying,  I  tried  to  catch  my  thoughts 

When  one  of  the  sev'n  spake  and  said  to  me 

(His  voice  as  steady  as  a  wall  of  stone 

His  heart  as  seeming  cold  and  pitiless)  : 

'  We  're  come  to  tell  thee  of  the  king's  decree, 

In  part,  in  part  to  put  it  into  force.' 

"  Then  he  related  that  which  I  had  heard 
And  this  still  further  of  the  written  law  : 
*  That  her  estate  be  given  to  another 
Better  than  she,  her  raiment,  and  her  crown, 
Her  jewels,  and  her  gold — all  that  she  hath 
Is  forfeited  ;  and  in  coarse  convict  garb 
She  shall  be  turned  without  the  palace  gates 
To  come  no  more  within  them.     In  the  streets 
All  unattended  shall  she  be  put  forth 
To  go  whereso  she  listeth ' 

"  '  'T  is  enough  ! ' 

I  cried,  '  enough  !  Oh,  let  me  hear  no  more  ! 
Go  thou,  Mehuman  !  for  thy  heart  is  kind, 
Oh,  go  !  and  but  implore  the  King  for  me 


62  VASHTI. 

That  he  give  me  a  moment's  audience — 
That  he  stretch  forth  the  golden  sceptre  now 
And  let  me  on  my  bended  knees  approach 
To  plead  my  poor  cause  with  his  Majesty 
And  free  my  soul  from  this  imputed  wrong  ! 
Oh,  go  !  and  but  remind  him  of  his  vow 
(Made  on  the  day  that  he  made  me  his  queen) 
That  any  wish  of  mine  should  be  his  law 
Unto  its  proper  granting  ;  and  that  now 
I  humbly  crave  expression  for  my  wish 
In  his  imperial  presence,  for  the  sake 
Of  our  sweet  son,  our  pretty  baby  prince. 
Frame  this  in  thy  own  words,  I  know  thou  canst  ! 

"  Poor  soul  !  kind-hearted,  fearless  Mehuman  ! 
Even  as  I  spake  the  muscles  of  his  face 
Twitched  with  emotion,  and  his  well-knit  frame 
Was  all  a-tremble,  for,  so,  my  deep  grief 
Had  touched  with  sympathy  his  ev'ry  nerve  ; 
And  tho'  he  knew,  not  /,  I  'd  asked  so  much, 
Consigning  him  to  a  worse  fate  than  mine, 
I  saw  his  lips  compress  like  plates  of  iron 
Impinging  each  on  each  ;  even  as  he  turned 
And  vowed  to  do  my  bidding,  while  the  rest 
Stood  coldly,  unconcernedly  anear, 
As  tho'  't  were  matter  of  small  consequence 


VASHTI.  63 

However  my  poor  pray'r  should  be  received, 
Or  what  reply  my  messenger  should  bring  ; 
But  now  I  blame  them  not  :  too  well  they  knew 
The  hopelessness  of  my  forlorn  appeal 
From  what  in  Persia  hath  been  once  decreed, 
And  that  't  was  dangerous  to  show  concern 
In  such  a  matter. 

"  Soon  Mehuman  came 
Returning  from  the  presence  of  the  King 
And  as  he  did  approach  I  soon  observed 
A  deathly  pallor  was  upon  his  face  ; 
And  then  I  knew  full  well  there  was  no  hope  ; 
Yet  that  brave  tongue  that  dared  to  plead  for  me 
Spake  once  again,  because  I  did  command — 
Spake  then,  and  thus,  then  spake  again  no  more  : 
'  The  King  denies  thy  suit,  retorting  that 
The  promise  which  he  made  was  to  the  queen 
And  that  thou  art  not  such  j  and  that  the  King 
More  than  the  subject  may  not  break  the  law, — 
Bade  me  return  to  execute  the  law 
Anddrave  me  forth  in  anger' 

"  Why  I  lived, 

Or  how  I  could  live,  after  hearing  this 
I  know  not,  but  the  first  wild  surging  flood 
Of  anguish  that  had  swept  across  my  soul 


64  VASHTI. 

Had  left  me  little  more  that  I  could  suffer  ; 

And  these  strange,  awful  words  but  stupefied 

The  keenness  of  my  grief  and  left  me  mute, 

Brooding  upon  my  great  calamity 

Until  cold  Carcas,  foremost  of  the  seven, 

Came  near  to  me  and  took  from  off  my  head 

The  jewelled  diadem  of  Persia's  queen  ; 

And  the  rare  necklace  of  white  shimmering  pearls 

He  loosened  from  their  place,  and  one  by  one 

Bade  me  take  off  my  bracelets  and  my  rings, 

The  coil  of  diamonds  plaited  in  my  hair, 

And  all  the  jewels  that  adorned  my  robes  ; 

Then  called  two  female  slaves  to  lead  me  forth 

Into  a  chamber  to  disrobe  me  there 

And  clothe  me  for  expulsion  to  the  streets. 

"  Soon  it  was  done,  and  I  led  out  again 

A  convict  outcast,  like  a  menial  clad, 

To  look  my  last  farewell  with  frenzied  eyes 

At  the  fair  court  where  I  had  reigned  a  queen- 

At  my  sweet  home  of  beauty,  mine  no  more  ; 

But  all  things  else  seemed  trivial  and  vain, 

In  that  sad  moment  of  supreme  despair, 

To  parting  with  my  child,  my  pretty  boy, 

Whom  they  were  plucking  from  his  mother's  breast— 

Whom  they  were  tearing  from  my  bleeding  heart ; 


65 

And  when  I  begged  to  see  him  once  again, 

To  kiss  his  rosebud  lips,  and  clasp  his  form, 

And  feel  the  pressure  of  his  velvet  cheek, 

They  brought  him  to  me  ;  it  was  good  of  them, — 

An  act  of  kindness  that  it  seemed  to  me 

Was  worth  to  me  more  than  the  world  beside, 

As  his  fair  dimpled  arms  twined  round  my  neck 

And  his  pure  infant  heart  beat  its  light  rhythm 

Against  the  heavy  pulsings  of  my  own, 

And  the  sweet  innocent  mouth  to  my  parched  lips 

Pressed    showers     of     kisses,    and    cooed,    *  Mamma,' 

'  Mamma,' 

Rousing  my  spirit  so  surcharged  with  grief, 
With  such  a  subtle  thrill  of  ecstasy 
That  it  did  seem  the  conflict  of  the  two 
Would  end  in  madness. 

"  Then  thus  Carcas  spake  : 
*  It  is  enough  !     We  must  perform  our  duty  ! 
Now  put  away  the  child,  and  get  thee  hence  ! ' 
And  laying  hands  on  me  they  held  me  fast 
Forcing  my  little  one  from  my  embrace, 
And  bearing  him  away  from  me,  mid  sobs 
Of  my  affrighted  sisters  ;  then  again 
The  darkness  came  upon  me,  and  without 
They  carried  me  at  will  and  left  me  there 


66  VASHTI. 

A  worse  than  beggar,  lying  on  the  street, 
Upon  the  border-land  'twixt  life  and  death. 

"  The  sad  awakening !     Oh,  speech  fails  my  lips 

To  give  expression  to  the  wretchedness — 

The  deep  humiliating  sense,  the  woe, 

That  crept  upon  me  with  returning  life. 

I  tried  to  reason  with,  and  know,  myself, 

For  I  did  seem  a  puzzle  to  myself. 

To  see  myself  in  such  a  wretched  garb — 

To  find  myself  abandoned  and  ignored — 

To  know  that  even  then  a  thousand  men, 

Urged  on  a  thousand  horses  at  their  speed 

From  Shushan,  trav'ling,  like  diverging  rays 

Out  from  a  central  sun,  to  reach  at  length 

The  farthest  limit  of  the  mighty  realm, 

And  that  each  bore  with  him  a  formal  script, 

Bearing  the  King's  sign-manual  and  seal, 

To  every  ruler  in  the  Provinces, 

Writ  in  the  sev'ral  various  tongues  of  each, 

Proclaiming  my  dishonor  by  the  law, 

And  ordering  these  again  to  publish  it 

To  all  their  people,  so  that  my  disgrace 

And  degradation  might  be  known  to  all — 

To  see,  to  feel,  to  know  all  this  and  live, 

To  live  and  still  not  be  a  maniac, 


VASHTI.  67 

Was  something  that  I  can  but  marvel  at. 
How  am  I  fallen  from  mine  high  estate  ! 
How  am  I  punished  for  a  thoughtless  word 
Spoken  in  kindness  and  with  good  intent  ! — 
And  punished,  too,  for  what  was  not  forbidden. 

"  Somewhere,  I  've  heard,  that  'mong  the  Israelites 

T  is  held  their  God  created  the  first  pair 

And  placed  them  on  this  earth  in  happiness, 

Woman  and  man,  their  ev'ry  want  supplied  ; 

Without  a  care  or  task  to  make  them  tired, 

Without  a  sorrow  or  a  twinge  of  pain, 

Without  the  knowledge  or  the  fear  of  death 

Nor  under  death's  domain,  being  immortal  ; 

That  in  a  wondrous  garden  where  they  dwelt 

Were  trees  of  beauty  whose  wide-spreading  boughs 

Thatched  with  their  own  bright  leaves,  forever  green, 

Sheltered  their  bodies  from  the  mid-day  sun, 

And    formed    the    circling  bow'rs    'neath   which   they 

passed 

Their  honeyed  hours  of  sleep  and  mutual  love  ; 
That  over  them  the  sky  forever  blue 
Smiled  in  calm  majesty,  and  bloomed  at  night 
With  all  its  countless  myriads  of  stars 
Always  unclouded  ;  that  a  river  flowed 
Broad  and  meandering  thro'  their  fair  domain, 


68  VASHTL 

Which  lay  beyond  the  Tigris,  and  its  clear 
And  peaceful  waters,  and  the  dews  of  night 
Sustained  all  life  without  the  fall  of  rain. 
The  brightest  flowers  were  in  perpetual  bloom, 
The  air  forever  laden  with  sweet  scents, 
The  fairest  birds  sang  sweetest  liquid  notes 
Within  the  groves,  and  ev'ry  living  thing 
That  moved  upon  the  earth,  or  in  the  air, 
Was  round  about  them  'biding  all  in  peace, 
And  over  all,  and  all  things  that  had  life 
And  moved  within  the  waters,  had  they  charge 
And  full  dominion  ;  and  of  all  the  trees, 
Bearing  much  fruit  of  many  divers  kinds, 
None  was  denied  them  save  the  fruit  of  one 
That  stood  out  plainly  in  the  garden's  midst 
And  hung  with  clusters  tempting  to  the  eye — 
Forbidden  fruit,  which  they  were  warned  against 
And  told  that  but  to  taste  of  it  were  death  ; 
And,  that,  being  tempted  much,  by  Ahriman 
(The  Evil  Spirit,  in  a  serpent's  form) — 
Telling  her  that  to  eat  of  that  one  tree 
The  fruit  their  God  had  thus  denied  to  them 
Would  be  to  make  them  as  the  gods  in  wisdom 
And  in  all  knowledge, — the  duped  woman  ate, 
And  having  eaten  bade  her  husband  eat, 
And  he,  out  of  compassion  for  his  wife, 


VASHTI.  69 

Willed  that  to  suffer  with  her  for  her  wrong 
Was  but  his  duty,  and  could  scarce  be  worse 
Than  to  be  robbed  of  her  sweet  company, 
And  so  he  ate,  and  having  eaten,  both 
Were  driven  from  the  garden  in  deep  shame, 
No  more  immortal,  but  consigned  to  death 
With  all  their  offspring,  down  thro'  all  the  ages, 
Thenceforth  to  eat  the  bread  of  bitterness 
Wrung  by  their  toil  from  the  unwilling  earth  ! 

"  Oh,  that  was  heavy  punishment  indeed  ! 
Yet  was  it  but  the  penalty  laid  down 
As  price  of  disobedience.     But  with  me 
The  prohibition  and  the  penalty — 
That  which  forbids  and  that  which  punishes 
The  thing  for  which  I  suffer — had  no  life 
Till  after  the  commission  of  the  act 
Which  it  declared  a  crime  and  visited 
In  the  same  day  with  the  dire  penalties 
Which  now  are  crushing  me  without  appeal — 
Without  a  single  word  in  my  behalf 
Being  uttered  or  allowed. 

"  Can  this  be  just  ? 

No  !  gods  and  men  alike  proclaim  it.     No  ! 
Yet  I  blame  not  the  King,  but  Memucan 


7<D  VASHTI. 

Whose  vengeful  spirit  sought  my  overthrow 

For  some  deep,  hidden  purpose  of  his  own  ; 

For  when  he  found  the  King  in  angered  mood 

Before  the  'semblage  making  inquiry 

What  should  be  done  to  me  ;  he  spake  no  word 

Extenuating  in  the  least  my  fault, 

Nor  held  himself  content  to  name  my  sentence 

Till  he  had  first  aroused  the  king's  hot  wrath 

Still  further  'gainst  me  by  his  poisoned  words 

To  the  sustaining  of  the  thing  he  sought, 

Charging  my  wrong  as  'gainst  both  King  and  princes, 

Aye,  and  against  all  people  of  the  land, 

And  prophesying  that  my  wayward  act 

Would  soon  unseat  all  husbands  from  their  pow'r 

If  unrebuked  ;  then  named  my  punishment, 

That,  when  decreed,  all  wives  might  thenceforth  honor 

Their  husbands  duly,  and  obey  them  well. 

"  And  has  it  come  that  men,  in  their  proud  strength 
And  boasted  courage,  need  to  be  sustained, 
And  their  authority  decreed,  by  law, 
Over  their  wives  ?     Fie  on  his  sophistry  ! 
Fie  on  the  weakling  princes  who  could  stand 
And  thus  be  parties  to  their  own  dishonor, 
By  speaking  not  against  the  thing  proposed, 
Belittling  all  manhood,  crushing  me. 


VASHTI.  71 

But  what  have  I  to  do  now  with  resentment, 
Or  anything  but  sorrow  ? 

"  Lo  !  now  come 

People  with  skins  and  vessels  to  the  pool 
To  get  supply  of  water  for  the  day  ! 
Have  I  delayed  so  long  ?  an  hour  or  more, 
Discoursing  of  myself  unto  myself? 
And  yet  when  none  else  hear  I  needs  must  talk, — 
Not  being  free  to  talk  at  other  times, — 
It  doth  divide  my  grief  to  bring  my  wrongs 
To  mine  own  hearing  in  the  form  of  speech, 
And  call  to  feeling's  aid  another  sense 
To  share  the  load  it  scarce  can  bear  alone. 
Now  must  I  be  away  !  the  day  is  long, 
But  still  the  night  will  come,  and  when  it  doth, 
Beneath  its  friendly  darkness  I  may  find 
Some  sheltering  nook  where  I  may  hide  myself 
And  seek  the  dearest  boon  that 's  left  me, — sleep." 


>J 


S 


BOOK    III. 

HADASSAH    AND  MORDECAI. 

O  Persia  was  made  queenless  !  but  't  is  writ 
-  '     That  all  the  fairest  maidens  of  the  realm 
Were  called  to  Shushan — summoned  'fore  the  King, 
As  it  had  been  appointed  by  his  Court, 
So  she  who  most  might  please  the  King  should  be 
Made  queen  in  Vashti's  stead.     Some  time  ere  this, 
Within  her  humble  home,  fair  Hadassah, 
Jew  Mordecai's  cousin  and  his  ward — 
A  daughter  of  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin 
Whose  father's  father,  once  again  removed, 
Had  with  King  Jeconiah  been  driven  forth 
To  Babylon  with  the  Captivity, — 
Standing  one  day  before  her  crafty  kinsman 
Noted  his  gaze  fixed  most  intently  on  her, 
And  his  lips  parted,  as  tho'  he  would  speak, 
Yet  spake  not ;  so  she  spake  unto  him,  saying  : 

72 


HADASSAH  AND  MORDECAI.  73 

"  My  more  than  father,  speak  !  What  is  thy  thought  ? 

What  dost  thou  see  in  me  to  fix  thine  eyes 

So  searchingly  upon  me  ?  "     And  the  Jew, 

As  if  awakening  from  a  reverie, 

Drew  his  right  hand  across  his  brow  and  said  -* 

"  My  child,  my  Hadas',  thou  art  very  fair  ; 

Thy  form  is  straight  and  supple,  and  thy  face 

Hath  that  about  it,  that,  once  looked  upon, 

Makes  the  beholder  long  to  look  again, 

To  study,  it  may  be,  what  subtle  something 

Maketh  its  rare  attraction.     Even  so, 

I,  who  have  raised  thee,  child,  and  know  thee  well 

Most  from  thy  infancy,  have  felt  this  truth, 

Yet  ne'er  before  so  strongly  as  but  now, 

When  thou  didst  speak  to  me.     Before,  it  seemed 

As  doth  the  dawn  stealing  upon  the  earth, 

Faintly,  at  first,  but  with  increasing  light 

Dissolving  in  itself  the  ling'ring  shadows  ; 

But  now  't  is  as  the  mid-day's  harvest  glory 

In  ripe  fruition.     Not  thy  shapely  neck 

Bearing  so  gracefully  thy  queenly  head  ; 

Not  thy  well-rounded  chin  and  blooming  cheeks  ; 

Not  thy  arched  nose  with  its  proud  curving  nostrils  ; 

Not  thy  dark  mournful  eyes  that  look  from  'neath 

The  arches  which  support  thy  lofty  brow 

With  such  a  light  of  truth  and  tenderness  ; 


74  VASHTI. 

Not  thy  black  silken  locks, — thy  present  crown ;- 

Not  any  one  of  these  have  moved  me  thus, 

Nor  all  together  ;  tho'  these  were  enough, 

Within  themselves,  to  move  all  others  so. 

But  I  see  in  thy  face  the  trust  of  Hagar, 

The  kindness  of  Rebecca  at  the  well, 

The  faith  of  Miriam,  the  love  of  Ruth, 

Rispah's  devotion,  and  Naomi's  care, 

Each  having  for  its  object,  Israel — 

Israel  oppressed,  down-trodden,  and  despised 

(Bearing  the  railings  of  vindictive  men), 

Israel  dispersed,  and  stripped  of  temp'ral  pow'r 

(Bearing  the  judgments  of  an  angered  God). 

O  daughter  mine  !  I  see  in  thee  the  glory 

Of  all  the  womanhood  of  all  our  race 

Linked  with  our  manhood's  hope  for  Israel  ! — 

Nay,  think  me  not  a  flatterer,  or  crazed, 

But  hearken  further  : 

"  In  a  fortnight's  time 
Will  the  king's  couriers  override  the  land 
To  gather  to  the  palace  of  the  king 
The  fairest  of  the  maidens  of  the  empire 
To  go  before  the  King,  as  't  is  decreed  ; 
So  that  the  one  who  best  shall  please  the  King 
Shall  be  his  queen,  the  queen  of  all  this  realm, 


HAD  ASS  AH  AttD   MORDECA1.  ? 

Even  as  Vashti  was  that  is  deposed  : 
Now  I  believe  me  that  in  all  the  realm 
There  's  not  a  fairer  maiden  than  art  thou, 
But  thou  'rt  a  Jewess,  and  if  this  were  known 
'T  would  bar  thee  from  this  contest  for  a  crown 
As  if  thou  wert  an  outcast.     Yet  my  soul 
Hath  a  fixed,  purposed  faith,  and  sure  belief, 
That  queen  thou  mayest  be^  if  queen  thou  wilt, 
So  hear  with  patience  : 

"  Thou  art  little  known 
Outside  this  village,  thou  hast  never  been 
About  the  palace  since  I  at  the  court 
Have  been  one  of  the  keepers  at  the  gate, — 
Nor  ever  been  at  Shushan,  unless  veiled 
After  the  custom  that  these  shamefaced  Gentiles 
Have  taught  their  women.     Now,  our  long-time  friend 
Rohaman-Ismail,  the  apostate  Jew, 
Hath  grown  rich  in  the  land,  and  prospered  well. 
He  hath  two  daughters,  younger  each  than  thou, 
And  but  the  other  day  did  send  me  word 
To  let  thee  come  to  them  at  Ecbatana — 
Whither  they  now  do  dwell — and  bide  with  them 
Awhile,  for  thy  own  pleasure  and  their  good, 
The  while  he  doth  intend  to  Araby 
To  make  a  venture  with  his  caravan 


76  VASHTI. 

With  various  merchandise  promising  profit, 
And  it  would  please  me  well  if  thou  wouldst  go. 

"  Mount  our  best  dromedary,  take  our  Hamish — 
A  servant  ever  faithful  and  discreet — 
Close  veil  thy  face,  if  any  be  near  by, 
Take  thy  best  wardrobe  with  thee,  and  thy  lute, 
And  journey  forthwith  to  Ecbatana 
Starting  upon  the  morrow  ;  and  when  there, 
Stay  at  our  friend's  as  he  invited  thee. 
At  no  time  make  it  known  that  thou  'rt  a  Jewess 
(Thou  may'st  be  sure  our  friends  will  never  do  so), 
But  do  thou  as  our  friends  do, — mention  not 
Thy  home  or  kindred  ;  wear  thy  best  attire 
And — as  thou  always  dost — a  winning  smile  ; 
Be  merry,  use  thy  lute  and  thy  sweet  voice 
As  best  thou  mayest.     Further,  as  their  guest, 
Seem  gracious,  yet  not  humble,  to  our  friends, 
And  to  their  friends,  whom  thou  may'st  chance  to  meet. 

Sing,  rather  than  converse,  to  entertain, 

For  speech  hath  e'er  more  tell-tale  lips  than  song. 

Observe  these  things  and  ere  three  moons  shall  pass 

Thou  shalt  be  summoned  to  the  palace  Shushan 

A  candidate  for  Persia's  queenly  crown  : 

Wilt  go  as  I  would  have  thee  ?  " 


&ADASSA&  AND   MORDECAL  77 

Hadassah, 

Regarding  Mordecai  with  surprise 
Mingled  with  doubt  and  fear,  answered  him  thus  : 
"  My  kinsman  and  my  father,  save  in  name, 
Thy  wish,  as  thy  command  hath  been  till  now 
And  so  still  must  be,  if  thy  truthful  wish, 
My  guide  in  action  ;  yet  doth  thy  strange  words 
Seem  like  the  small  enkindling  of  a  flame 
That  may  consume  us  both.     Never  before 
Have  I  heard  flattery  escape  thy  lips 
To  any  person,  and  much  less  to  me 
Whom  thou  hast  warned  against  all  flattering  speech 
As  'gainst  contagion.     Always,  until  now, 
Hast  thou  advised  me  'gainst  the  sinful  folly 
Thou  called'st  *  the  world's  ambition  and  the  pride 
Of  earthly  riches,  and  the  lust  of  pow'r '  ; 
Always  till  now  hast  thou  instructed  me 
To  shun  these  heathen  Persians  and  these  Medes 
Whom  it  hath  been  our  fate  to  dwell  amongst  ; 
While  an  apostate  from  the  Jewish  faith 
Hath  seemed  the  special  horror  of  thy  soul  ; 
And  now,  what  sayest  thou  ?     Thy  ardent  words 
Spoken  in  praise  of  what  thou  callest  my  beauty, 
Had,  from  another's  lips,  earned  thy  rebuke 
As  idle  folly.     In  my  maiden  ear 
Thou  pourest  now  the  dulcet,  burning  music 


78  VASHTI. 

Of  an  ambition  wilder  than  the  dreams 

Of  youth's  enchanted  slumbers.     Whom  I  've  shunned, 

As  thou  hast  wished — and  I  was  pleased  to  shun — 

Thou  now  wouldst  have  me  seek,  and  in  disguise 

Unworthily  scheme  to  be  one  of  them — 

One  of  the  very  chiefest  of  them  all  ; 

And  by  so  doing  to  disown  myself, 

Deny  my  people  and  deny  my  God, 

Earn  for  myself  the  curse  of  Israel, 

And  failing  (as  I  doubt  not  I  should  fail), 

The  scoffs  and  jeers  of  these  unholy  Gentiles, 

My  own  reproach,  thy  unavailing  pity, 

And  the  world's  instance  of  aspiring  folly 

Justly  rebuked. 

"  Is  't  truly  then  thy  wish 
That  I  shall  dwell  in  an  apostate's  house 
(Albeit  I  know  this  one  hath  that  about  him 
Which  doth  hold  captive  thy  reluctant  friendship), 
And  from  this  vantage-ground,  with  base  deceit 
Practise  the  pretty  wiles  of  which  thou  speakest 
That  I  might  thus  attract  the  dull  attention 
Of  the  king's  pandering  slaves,  and  so  be  chosen, 
Not  as  the  chance  might  fall,  but,  through  intrigue  ? — 
My  own  intrigue,  and  thy  intrigue  ;  for  what  ? 
For  the  one  chance — a  chance  among  the  thousands, 


HADASSAH  AND  MORDECAI.  79 

To  air  my  charms  before  this  haughty  King — 
To  surely  play  the  harlot,  with  the  hope, 
Thereby  to  win  approval  and  a  crown, 
And  lose  my  self-respect  scarcely  the  less 
Whether  I  win  a  crown  or  lose  mine  honor  ; 
To  win  a  husband,  should  I  win  at  all, 
Who  is  too  great  and  terrible  to  love — 
Too  powerful  and  rash  to  reason  with, 
And  therefore  would  exact  the  toll  of  love, 
Lip  service  and  a  reverential  mien, 
Even  where  love  was  not  ;  and  his  anger  roused 
My  life  might  scarce  assuage  it,  and  my  fate 
Be  even  sadder  than  the  banished  Vashti's. 
What  say'st  thou  ?  is  't  thy  wish  that  I  shall  go  ? " 

Then  Mordecai  thus  : 

"  Cousin,  thy  words 

Are  searching  as  the  thrust  of  warrior's  spear, 
And  keen  as  wintry  winds  to  the  unclad. 
That  they  have  weight,  as  well  as  worldly  wisdom, 
I  '11  not  dispute.     That  thou  hast  strength  and  courage 
To  hold  to  light  my  seeming  inconsistence, 
Argues  thee  well,  and  calls  for  no  rebuke. 
Thy  gentle  spirit,  that  I  ne'er  before 
Have  seen  moved  to  such  depths  of  eloquence, 
Shews  a  new  charm  of  undiscovered  power, 


8o  VASHTL 

Which,  conscious  of  itself,  in  sweet  reluctance 
Offers  to  sacrifice  its  own  convictions 
And  do  my  wish  in  strict  obedience 
E'en  to  self-seeming  ruin  :     This  the  more 
Doth  fix  the  deep  conviction  of  my  soul, 
That  queen  thou  oughtest  be,  and  so  thou  must  ; 
For  as  my  soul  doth  live,  but  yesternight 
I  dreamed  of  thee  (and  I  do  seldom  dream). 
I  dreamed  that  all  the  court  and  palace  Shushan 
Was  gay  with  banners  and  illumed  with  lamps  ; 
That  a  great  throng  was  gathered  in  the  court 
And  in  the  midst  of  them,  in  shining  robes, 
Upon  a  golden  throne,  beside  the  king's, 
Raised  on  a  marble  dais,  thou  wert  seated, 
When  lo,  the  King  himself,  even  Ahasuerus, 
Stepped  close  beside  thee  bearing  in  his  hands 
A  triple  golden  zone,  studded  with  gems, 
Which  he  himself  did  place  upon  thy  head 
And  called  the  throng  to  view  thy  coronation 
And  give  it  witness.     Then  in  loud  acclaim 
Tumultuous,  the  raptured  throng  burst  forth 
Till  the  court  seemed  to  quiver  with  the  power 
Of  their  glad-voiced  hosannahs  ;  and  the  King, 
Taking  thee  by  the  hand,  bade  thee  arise, 
And  there   proclaimed   thee   Queen,  and   named   thee 
*  Esther.' 


HAD  ASS  AH  AND  MORDECAI.  8 1 

And  when  I  heard  the  name  I  cried  aloud 
Unto  the  God  of  glory, — as  it  seemed  : 

*  This  surely  is  the  token  !  this  the  star 
Risen  once  more  to  beacon  Judah  on 
In  light  and  safety  ! ' 

"  Hadas'  !  cousin  ! 
My  vision  is  upon  me  like  a  spell, 
And  will  not  be  ignored  or  put  aside, 
But  in  mine  ears  that  multitudinous  voice 
Is  ringing  still  with  shouts  of  '  Long  live  Esther  ! ' 
1  Esther  the  beautiful ;  our  honored  queen  ! ' 

*  Fair  Star  of  Persia,  live,  live  on  forever  ! ' 
And  in  all  this  I  find  a  hope  for  Jewry, 

For  wert  thou  but  the  queen,  our  smitten  race 
Had  then  a  faithful  friend  near  to  the  throne 
Whose  sweet  persuasion  and  discerning  wit 
Might  stand  between  us  and  the  machinations 
Of  our  fierce  enemies,  who  in  their  hate 
Should  seek  the  sanction  of  the  hasty  King 
To  our  undoing.     I  have  weighed  thy  scruples, 
And  in  the  scale  of  ordinary  things 
Naught  can  be  placed  to  keep  the  beam  in  poise  ; 
But  that  I  hope,  is  not  for  thee  alone, 
And  surely  not  for  me,  but  for  our  people — 
Not  for  our  glory,  but  for  Israel's  good 


82 


And  for  the  glory  of  the  great  Jehovah. 
Thy  scruples  are  of  evil,  but  the  soul 
Which  looks  beyond  the  act  to  the  result, 
And  that  result  be  the  great  good  of  many, 
Whereas,  the  act  effects  that  soul  alone  — 
And  be  not  gloried  in,  or  undertaken 
Save  for  the  good  that  is  to  come  of  it, 
Where  is  the  evil  ?     Surely  there  is  none  ! 
For  so,  the  act,  the  soul  reluctantly 
Weaves  in  the  master  purpose,  which  is  good. 
Further,  my  Hadas',  this  thing  only,  further  : 
In  this  great  opportunity  I  see 
The  hand  of  the  Almighty  stretching  forth 
To  touch,  once  more,  the  wounds  of  Israel 
With  healing  pity." 

"  Cousin,  't  is  enough  ! 

I  will  not  question  more  !  "     Hadassah  cried, 
"  Forgive  thou  my  presumption  and  my  doubts, 
For  surely  now  I  know  this  is  thy  wish, 
And  that  alone,  for  me,  were  all-sufficient, 
But  if  it  be  God's  will,  as  thou  believest, 
It  would  be  impious  to  hesitate, 
And  so  I  will  set  forth  at  early  morn 
For  Ecbatana,  even  as  thou  sayest 
To  do  and  act  in  all  things." 


HADASSAH  AND   MORDECAI.  83 

"  'T  is  well  said. 

My  child,  my  faithful  Hadas',  "  cried  the  Jew  ; 
"  And  may  God  speed  the  coming  of  thy  glory, 
Than  which,  as  I  beheld  it  in  my  dream, 
None  shall  be  greater  throughout  all  the  earth 
Among  all  women." 

Long  before  the  dawn, 

While  yet  the  stars  shone  from  a  moonless  sky 
Upon  the  silent,  fertile  Susian  plains, 
Pursuing  for  a  time  their  northward  course 
Along  the  western  bank  of  the  Chaospes, 
O'er  the  brown,  dusty,  trampled  thoroughfare, 
Hadassah  and  the  grave,  gray-bearded  Hamish? 
Each  mounted  on  a  tall,  swift-footed  camel, 
Rode  thoughtfully  along.     Another  beast, 
That  bore  light  camp  equipage  and  provision, 
Followed  behind,  led  by  a  leathern  thong 
Which  the  old  servant  held  within  his  hand 
Or  fastened  to  his  girdle.     Thus  began 
That  wondrous  journey  to  Ecbatana, 
Whose  whole  effect  not  Mordecai  dreamed 
Or  mortal  man  conjectured.     Little  spake, 
These  early  travelers  in  the  star-lit  silence, 
For  all  about  them  seemed  so  filled  with  awe 
So  wrapt  in  the  still  majesty  of  night, 


84  VASHTI. 

That  speech  fell  on  their  ears  like  the  intrusion 

Of  jarring  sounds,  in  that  vast  harmony 

Of  overarching  sky  and  sleeping  plain 

And  low-breathed  murmurs  of  a  dreaming  world. 

At  length  the  first  signs  of  approaching  day 
Crept  up  the  eastern  sky,  and  grew  in  strength, 
Until  the  bright  rays  of  the  coming  sun 
Ribbed  half  the  heavens  with  light.      Then  there  ap 
peared 

Close  to  a  little  thicket  by  the  way, 
A  lion,  crouching  as  if  he  would  spring 
Upon  the  maiden  and  her  gray-beard  escort, 
Yet  sprang  not  ;  but  arising  to  his  height 
With  flaming  eyes  looked  in  Hadassah's  face, 
And,  lashing,  with  his  tail,  his  tawny  sides, 
Ope'd  his  fanged  jaws  and  from  his  ruddy  throat 
Poured  a  triumphant  roar  that  set  the  air 
A-tremble  o'er  the  plain  ;  then  turning  fled 
Even  to'ard  Shushan.     Hamish,  white  with  fear, 
Spake  not,  altho'  his  lips  essayed  to  speak, 
And  their  affrighted  beasts  at  ev'ry  joint 
Quaked  in  dumb  terror.     Hadassah, 
For  some  strange  cause  she  could  not  understand, 
Felt  naught  of  trepidation  or  alarm, 
But,  turning  in  her  houdah,  watched  the  lion 


HADASSAH  AND   MORDECAI.  85 

Leaping  in  rapid  flight,  and  then  she  saw 

The  distant  peaks  aflame  with  filmy  gold, 

And  then  the  sunshine  from  those  glowing  summits 

Slipt  down  to  eastward  on  the  arid  plain 

Sweeping  toward  them,  till  great  Shushan's  towers — 

Now  left  behind — were  bathed  in  its  warm  lustre. 

Then  turning  unto  Hamish,  Hadas'  spake  : 

"  Be  not  afraid  !     The  lion  has  gone  hence  ! 
'T  was  strange  that  he  should  lie  in  wait  for  us 
And  thus  confront  us  with  his  savage  presence, 
Pour  out  the  thunders  of  his  awful  voice, 
Yet  flee  and  harm  us  not.     'T  was  also  strange 
He  should  be  here  at  all.     No  lion  else, 
As  I  believe,  hath  been  for  many  years 
North  far  as  Shushan.     As  my  soul  doth  live, 
And  as  my  eyes  behold  this  wondrous  morn — 
The  fairest  that  I  ever  looked  upon, — 
There  is  a  potent  augury  in  this 
That  bodes  us  well ;  for  out  of  Egypt  came, 
Before  the  Bondage,  and  from  Israel's  lips, 
As  on  his  couch  he  sate  delaying  death 
To  speak  his  parting  charge  unto  his  sons — 
His  dying  blessing  and  his  prophecy — 
Words  full  of  hope  for  Judah.     Lo,  he  fixed, 
As  thou  rememb'rest  to  have  seen  it  writ, 


86  VASHTI. 

A  couchant  lion  as  our  tribal  emblem, 
And  asketh — '  WHO  SHALL  ROUSE  HIM  ? '  " 

"  O,  my  God  ! 

Hath  this,  then,  portent  of  deliverance  ? 
Have  I  aroused  the  Lion  of  our  Tribe 
Thus  in  the  semblance  of  a  savage  beast 
Unto  my  people's  betterment,  or  safety  ? 
So  may  it  prove  !     At  least  I  go  content 
On  this  strange  journey  I  am  set  upon 
With  hope  aroused  and  with  a  pray'rful  heart, 
Fearing  no  evil." 

So  they  journeyed  on 

These  two,  for  the  most  part  in  speechless  silence 
Plodding  day  after  day  the  weary  road, 
Halting  at  eve  to  feed  their  tired  beasts 
And  to  refresh  themselves  ;  the  evening  meal 
Prepared  there  by  the  wayside,  and  partaken, 
The  faithful  Hamish  pitched  the  tiny  tent, 
And,  when  the  maid  withdrew  therein  and  slept, 
Lay  down  without  the  door,  wrapt  in  his  robes, 
To  guard  his  mistress,  gaze  up  at  the  stars, 
And  the  dim,  silent  summits  of  the  Zagros, 
And  muse  on  the  strange  fortunes  of  his  race, 
Till  weariness  and  safety  bade  him  sleep. 


HADASSAH  AND   MORDECAI.  87 

And  so  day  followed  day,  and  oft  they  met 

Upon  the  way  some  Median  caravan 

Bearing  rich  stores  of  grain,  and  spicery, 

Peltries,  and  products  of  the  Median  looms, 

Down  to  the  great  King's  capitol  for  sale. 

The  drivers  and  the  merchants  looked  surprised 

At  the  veiled  maiden  and  her  aged  attendant. 

But  these  delayed  not,  nor  asked  any  question, 

Nor  were  they  questioned.     Surely  these  they  passed 

Knew  not  that  Persia's  queen,  so  soon  to  be, 

Had  ridden  by  them.     After  twenty  days 

The  travellers  had  reached  the  grassy  flank 

Of  Mount  Orontes,  and  the  battlements 

Of  Ecbatana's  tower  came  into  view, 

And  soon  the  whole  great  city  was  around  them, 

With  its  strange  sights,  its  many  cooling  fountains, 

And  rich,  luxuriant  gardens  all  abloom 

With  roses  of  a  hundred  various  tints 

Shedding  sweet  perfumes.     Mordecai's  friends 

Received  the  maiden  joyfully  among  them, 

Whence  she  was  soon  sought  out  for  her  great  beauty 

And  taken  down  to  Shushan,  where  in  time, 

Even  as  Mordecai  saw  it  in  his  dream, 

She  was  made  queen  ;  and  all  the  court  was  wild 

With  much  rejoicing  ;  and  the  feast  was  spread  ; 

Queen  Esther's  name  was  upon  ev'ry  lip  ; 


88  VASHTI. 

And  all  the  empire  echoed  with  the  praise 
Of  her  great  charms  ;   for  surely  she  was  fair, 
And  she  was  queen  ;  the  King's  own  fav'rite  star  ; 
And  no  one  spake  of  Vashti  any  more, 
For  Vashti  was  as  one  long  dead,  to  those 
Who  fawned  upon  the  King.     But  the  new  queen 
Disclosed  not  yet  her  race,  and  few  indeed 
Surmised  that  Israel  shared  Iran's  throne. 


BOOK    IV. 

HAMAN'S   DECREE— THE   MOURNING. 

DIGTHAN,  and  Teresh — brethren  of  Mehuman 

*-*     Whose  sight  had  been  destroyed  and  whose  tongue 

silenced 

By  the  command  of  the  revengeful  King 
For  daring  to  present  Vashti's  appeal — 
In  pond'ring  on  their  kinsman's  deadly  wrongs 
Conspired  to  slay  the  King,  and  thus  avenge 
Their  brother's  cruel  maims  ;   and  noting  not 
The  seeming  listless  Jew  who  sate  betimes 
In  the  King's  gate  outside  the  door  they  guarded, 
They  dropt,  now  and  again,  a  word  whose  meaning 
Was  thought  to  be  unreadable,  except 
By  application  of  the  awful  key 
Possessed  by  them  alone.     But  as  he  sate 
With  gaze  intent  upon  the  marble  pave, 
The  keen  wits  of  the  Jew  were  gath'ring  up 
A  stray  word  here,  a  broken  sentence  there, 
And  fitting  these  together  in  his  mind, 

89 


90  VASHTI. 

Supplying  now  a  thought,  and  then  a  query 
Connected  with  the  gossip  of  the  court 
And  his  own  knowledge  of  some  past  events, 
Their  daring  plot  was  opened  to  his  view, 
And  he  did  presently  divulge  the  same. 
Seizure  and  sentence  followed  ;  and  the  twain, 
Seeking  revenge  for  a  brave  brother's  wrongs, 
Found  only  for  themselves  death  on  the  gallows. 
Then  was  it  entered  in  the  chronicles 
How  Mordecai  had  preserved  the  empire, 
In  that  he  had  preserved  the  mighty  King, 
Its  front  and  centre.     But  the  matter  passed  ; 
And  Haman,  a  designing  Agagite, 
A  long  time  in  great  favor  with  the  King, 
Press'd  for  still  further  favor  and  more  pow'r, 
And  not  in  vain,  till,  save  the  King  himself, 
Not  any  was  above  him.     When  he  passed 
Heads  were  uncovered,  and  the  suppliant  knee 
Bended  at  his  approach.     All  did  him  honor  ; 
All  save  one — the  Jew, — and  he  ignored 
Not  only  the  pretensions,  but  the  presence 
Of  the  exalted  one  ;  who  in  his  turn 
Conceived  so  fierce  a  hatred  of  the  Jew 
That  his  extinction  could  not  well  appease, 
And  the  annihilation  of  his  race 
Throughout  the  realm,  alone  might  satisfy. 


HAMAN'S  DECREE — THE  MOURNING.          9! 

So  Haman  sought  the  King,  and  craftily 

Charged  Jewry  with  a  lack  of  loyalty, 

Dis'bedience  to  the  laws,  and  covert  treason  ; 

And  as  a  measure  for  the  King's  own  safety, 

And  the  well-being  of  the  mighty  realm, 

Urged  ev'ry  Hebrew's  death  ;  off' ring  himself 

To  pay  much  money  in  the  treasury 

To  prove  his  zeal  was  for  the  nation's  good 

And  not  for  his  own  ends.     The  King,  alarmed, 

And  acting  rashly,  as  it  was  his  wont, 

Persuaded  by  the  favorite's  calumnies 

So  cunningly  paraded  as  the  truth, 

Granted  the  tenor  of  his  cruel  prayer 

And  caused  it  to  be  written  in  the  law 

As  verity,  and  made  unchangeable, 

And  gave  his  ring  to  seal  it,  and  the  doom 

Of  Israel  ;  for  therein  't  was  decreed  : 

"  That,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month  Adar, 
The  power  of  this  realm,  hereby  invoked, 
Shall,  throughout  all  our  many  provinces, 
By  all  our  satraps  and  our  tribute  kings 
(Who,  for  the  perfect  carrying  out  whereof 
As  herein  made  of  record  and  decreed, 
Are  held  to  strict  accountability) 
Directing  the  armed  forces  of  our  realm, 


92  VASHTI. 

And  all  the  populace  available, 
Within  their  sev'ral  satrapies  and  states, 
Visit  sure  death  upon  the  hated  Jews, 
Pernicious  in  themselves,  and  full  of  menace 
To  the  realm's  safety.     Women,  children,  men, 
Aged  and  young  alike,  let  none  be  spared  ; 
So  that  our  realm  be  safely  rid  of  them 
Then  and  forever  ;  and,  moreover,  this  : 
That  of  all  Hebrews  slain  their  goods  shall  be 
A  prey  to  their  destroyers." 

This,  so  writ 

Was  formally  attested,  duly  sealed, 
And  ordered  published  throughout  all  the  realm, 
After  the  manner  of  all  Persian  laws, 
In  all  the  provinces,  to  all  the  rulers 
To  be  proclaimed  by  them  to  all  the  people  ; 
And  Mordecai,  when  he  heard  of  it, 
Was  bowed  with  grief,  and  clamorous  with  despair, 
And,  rending  all  his  garments,  then  threw  dust 
Upon  his  head,  and  went  about  the  streets 
Troubling  the  day  and  night  with  bitter  wail 
And  lamentation. 

"  O  Jerusalem  !  " 

He  cried,  "  rearing  thy  glorious  head  once  more 
From  thine  own  ruins,  now  may'st  thou  behold 


HA  MAN'S  DECREE — THE  MOURNING.          93 

The  more  than  ruin  of  thy  smitten  people, — 

Their  legalized  destruction  !     Let  thy  walls, 

Thy  holy  temple,  and  thy  goodly  towers, 

So  lately  resurrected,  sink  again, 

And  seek  oblivion  in  the  dust  of  earth 

That  soon  shall  hide  the  last  of  all  thy  builders  ! 

Thus  may  our  race,  and  thou,  our  well-beloved, 

Perish  together  !     Woe,  O  Israel, 

Woe  is  thy  portion  !     The  Egyptian's  yoke, 

The  wanderers'  sufferings  in  the  wilderness, 

Assyria's  cruel  tasks,  Babylon's  gibes 

Through  generations  of  captivity, 

Have  stained  with  grief  the  pages  of  thy  script, 

And  now  this  Persian  terror  seals  the  book 

And  binds  the  volume  of  thy  sorrows  all 

In  death's  completion  !     Weep,  ye  Jewish  maids  ! 

And  mourn,  as  Jephtha's  daughter  wept  and  mourned, 

For  the  warm  love  that  leaps  in  all  your  veins 

Must  die  ungathered,  even  as  did  hers, 

And  that  without  availment  !     Cry  ye  out, 

Mothers  of  Israel,  for  your  babes  must  die, 

First-born  and  last  !  but  this  last  Pharaoh 

Decrees  that  ye  die  with  them,  so  your  grief 

Shall  not  be  of  long  life  !    Lo,  Judah,  now, 

Behold  the  open  graves  digged  for  thy  people 

And  them  be  dumb  forever  !     Is  this  all  ? 


94  VASHTI. 

Why  did  I  hope  for  Israel  any  more  ? 

O   God,  why  did  I  dream  those  wondrous  dreams 

That  have  been  honored  like  true  prophecy 

In  their  fulfilment,  and  then  live  to  see, 

This  day,  the  crumbling  down  in  bitterness 

Of  more  than  all  I  hoped  for  ! " 

As  he  called 

His  lamentations  thus,  pacing  the  pave 
Before  the  palace  gate,  tattered  and  grimed, 
The  eunuch  Hatach,  bearing  in  his  hands 
A  parcel,  came  and  spake  unto  him  thus  : 
"  Sir,  the  queen  hath  heard  of  thy  condition 
And  of  thy  bitter  wailings,  and  the  knowledge 
That  thou  didst  on  a  time  befriend  the  King 
Moved  her  compassion,  and  so  she  hath  sent 
This  raiment  for  thee,  that  thou  may'st  be  clad 
As  doth  befit  thee  ;  and  she  further  'quireth 
The  cause  of  thy  lamenting.     Don  this  garb, 
And  then  relate  to  me  thy  heavy  sorrow 
That  I  may  speak  it  to  her,  and  mayhap 
She  can  befriend  thee  in  such  way  as  shall 
In  measure  stay  thy  grief." 

Then  Hatach  held 

Toward  the  Jew  the  raiment  he  had  brought, 
But  Mordecai  put  it  from  him,  saying  : 


HAMAN'S  DECREE — THE  MOURNING.          95 

"  Take  it  away  !     What  need  have  I  of  raiment 

Except  to  rend  it  ?    Why  should  I  be  clothed 

Except  in  sackcloth  ?     '  Naked  to  the  world,' 

As  Job  cried  out  of  old,  '  I  came  ! '   And  now, 

I  and  my  people  must,  by  law,  be  stript, 

And  given  o'er  to  death  in  nakedness; 

For  which  a  price  is  paid  in  privilege  ! 

These,  sorrow's  tatters,  that  now  cling  to  me, 

Indifferently  serve  to  hide  my  shame, — 

That  is  enough  !     And  if  the  queen  would  know 

Why  I  do  mourn,  then  bear  thou  this  to  her !  " 

Saying  which  the  Jew  handed  the  wond'ring  Hatach 

A  written  scroll  and  copy  of  the  law 

So  late  decreed  against  the  Jews,  and  added  : 

"  Tell  her  to  read  it  and  consider  well 

If  I  have  cause  for  sorrow  !  Further, 

Tell  her  the  time  is  come  that  she  must  act  ! 

She  must  declare  herself,  and  sue  the  King 

For  mercy  to  our  people  !  " 

Wond'ring  that 

The  Jew  should  hazard  such  a  speech  as  this 
For  message  to  the  queen,  Hatach  returned 
And  gave  the  queen  the  scroll  and  verbal  message, 
Which  when  she  had  perused  and  listened  to, 
She  seemed  amazed  and  troubled  beyond  measure. 


96  VASHTI. 

The  color  fled  her  cheeks,  leaving  her  face 
White  as  the  alabaster  statue,  by  her  side, 
Of  a  winged  griffin,  which  she  caught  upon 
To  save  herself  from  falling.     Then  she  turned 
As  if  to  hide  her  face  from  the  dazed  eunuch 
Until  her  young  heart  drove  the  truant  blood 
Back  to  its  place  with  fluttering  little  throbs. 
But  she  exclaimed  not,  tho'  it  seemed  to  her 
As  if  the  hopes  which  she  had  builded  up 
Lay  at  her  feet  in  ruins,  and  the  fears 
And  doubts  she  first  had  felt  arose  again 
In  the  deep  shadow  of  this  pending  doom 
That  threatened  Israel.     Yet  she  stilled  her  dread 
And  tried  to  think  what  word  she  must  return 
Back  to  the  Jew,  for  tho'  no  hope  appeared 
In  Mordecai's  hint  as  to  her  duty, 
She  did  not  wholly  yield  up  to  despair. 
Still,  knowing  not  what  else  to  say  to  him, 
And  seeing  the  immediate  demand 
For  answer  in  some  sort  unto  the  Jew, 
She  spake  to  Hatach  thus  : 

"  Tell  thou  the  Jew 

That  I  compassion  with  him  and  his  people, 
And  fain  would  do  some  act  to  succor  them, 
Yet  know  the  law  is  such,  that  to  approach 


HA  MAN'S  DECREE— THE  MOURNING.          97 

The  august  presence  of  the  mighty  King 
Within  the  inner  court  where  he  is  found, 
Unless  so  bidden  by  the  King  himself, 
Whether  't  be  woman  or  man  that  venture  it, 
Death  is  the  forfeit,  save,  indeed,  to  such 
As  it  may  please  the  King  that  he  extend 
To'ard  them  the  golden  sceptre,  saying  '  Live  ! ' 
These  thirty  days  hath  not  the  King  beheld 
My  face  or  sent  to  bid  me  come  to  him  ! 
What  might  I  then  expect,  to  go  unbidden 
Into  his  presence,  and  on  such  an  errand  ? " 

And  so  did  Hatach  speak  those,  the  queen's  words, 
As  bidden,  to  the  Jew,  who  this  returned 
In  answer  unto  Esther  :     "  Now  thou  'rt  queen 
Wilt  thou  prove  false  and  recreant  to  thy  race 
In  this  the  hour  of  their  supremest  peril  ? 
Think  not  to  'scape  with  life  in  the  King's  house, 
If  Israel  die,  more  than  the  meanest  slave 
Whose  veins  course  with  the  blood  of  Abraham  ! 
And  if  deliverance  come,  as  may  God  grant, 
And  thou  makest  no  attempt  to  forward  it, 
Destruction  then  may  seize  thy  father's  house, 
And  on  anothers'  head  the  crown  of  glory 
Rest,  that  I  fain  would  think  is  only  thine  ; 
And,  as  I  must  believe,  thou  hast  been  sent 


98  VASHTI. 

To  be  a  queen  for  such  a  strait  as  this, 

Let  not  the  time  escape  thee  !     Dost  thou  fear  ? 

Surely  thou  hast  great  cause  !  but  will 't  be  lessened 

By  waiting  death  that  must  engulf  us  all, 

Making  no  effort,  quietly  submitting 

To  perish  with  the  Jewish  multitude 

And  fill  a  nameless  grave  ?     No  !  rather  dare 

To  die,  if  die  thou  must,  pleading  for  life 

For  all  of  Israel  ;  then  were  thy  life 

An  offering  on  the  altar  of  thy  race, 

And  so  thy  death  (which  may  our  God  forbid  !  ) 

A  spectacle  to  move  th'  offended  world, 

Making  thy  name  and  fame  less  sacred  only 

Than  if  thou  shalt  succeed  in  this  great  cause, 

And  save  thy  suff'ring  people  and  thyself 

To  the  Almighty's  glory  !  " 

Hatach,  so 

Told  Mordecai's  message  to  the  queen 
Which  when  she  'd  heard,  she  sent  thro'  him  again 
This  writing  to  the  Jew  :     "  I  am  resolved  ! 
Gather  our  people  up  throughout  the  city, 
And  bid  them  all  for  me,  and  in  my  name, 
Give  quittance  from  all  toil,  and  mourn  with  me, 
And  fast,  and  pray,  for  three  full  days  and  nights, 
Eating,  or  drinking,  not ;  and  thinking  only 


HAMAWS  DECREE— THE  MOURNING.          99 

Of  our  great  peril  and  Jehovah's  power  : 
The  same  will  also  I,  and  all  my  maids, 
And  when  this  time  is  done,  I  will  proceed 
Unbidden  to  the  King,  which  is  unlawful, 
And,  if  I  lose  my  life,  then  be  it  so  ; 
If  not  I  have  my  plans  to  intercede 
For  Israel,  according  as  I  may." 

So  did  Jew  Mordecai,  with  his  people, 

As  bidden  by  the  queen  ;    and  Israel  mourned, 

And  mourning  wept,  and  weeping  cried  aloud, 

And  wailed  her  songs  of  sorrow  to  the  winds, 

And  rent  her  garments,  took  no  food  or  drink, 

But  dwelt  in  desolation,  praying  much 

And  fearing  greatly,  for  the  world  was  dark. 


BOOK  V. 

LITTLE  META. 

hither,  little  maid,  and  sit  thee  here 
On  this  poor  mat  beside  me,  whiles  I  try 
To  tell  the  thing  which  thou  inquirest  of 
According  to  the  truth.     '  Say  whom  thou  art  ? ' 
Poor  child  !  There  was  a  time  when  these  four  words 
In  thy  plain  query,  now  so  simply  put, 
Had  found  me  readier  to  answer  them, 
Or,  if  I  hesitated,  it  had  been 
For  other  reasons  than  oppress  me  now  ; 
And  yet  it  is  a  thing  that  oftentimes 
In  these  near  half-score  years  I  've  asked  myself, 
And  have  not  found  the  words  to  answer  me— 
From  lack  of  knowledge  or  from  fear  of  truth— 
As  seems  unto  me  right. 

"  But  this  I  am, — 

A  homeless  creature,  even  like  thyself, 
And  one  who  loves  thee  dearly,  little  maid, 

100 


LITTLE  META.  101 

And  owes  thee  much,  and  prizes  thee  yet  more, 
As  the  one  object  that  my  hungry  heart 
Hath  left  to  feed  its  famished  love  upon 
Beholding  with  mine  eyes. 

"  Blessed  be  the  day 

I  found  thee  shivering  at  the  evening's  close 
Upon  the  wind-swept  street,  and  heard  thy  sobs 
Breaking  convulsively,  as  thou  didst  call 
'  Mother  !  O  mother  !  '  ever  and  anon, 
Whilst  weakly  tugging  at  the  prostrate  form 
Of  her  whose  name  thou  spake,  who  answered  not ; 
For  death  had  called  her  ;  and  I  being  veiled — 
And  knowing  only  of  thy  great  distress — 
And  being  so  unknown  to  those  who  came 
To  carry  off  thy  dead,  persuaded  thee 
To  come  away  with  me  ;  for  well  I  knew 
That  friendlessness  and  poverty  were  thine, 
And  being  peers  in  these,  I  'd  harm  thee  not 
By  offering  my  love  ;  tho,  when  so  doing, 
I  felt  I  should  be  doubly  well  repaid 
Even  in  the  like  I  should  receive  from  thee, 
And  it  hath  been  so. 

"  So  I  am  thy  friend, 
And  this  poor  hovel  that  doth  shelter  us, 
This  is  our  home — a  sorry  home  at  best 
And  yet  't  is  only  ours  by  sufferance. 


IO2  VASHTI. 

"  Three  years  agone,  while  shivering  with  cold 
And  pinched  with  hunger,  I  intruded  here, 
Finding  this  shelter  vacant,  and  apart 
From  where  much  people  frequent  or  pass  by 
And  in  the  Hebrew  quarter  of  the  town 
Where  Medes  or  Persians  dwell  not ;  so  I  came, 
And  none  has  spoken  to,  or  questioned  me 
Of  my  possession  ;  nor,  until  thou  earnest, 
Did  any  soul  look  in  on  me,  to  know 
Whether  I  lived  or  died  ;  but  oft  I  found, 
Placed  near  the  door  without,  small  store  of  food 
Left  in  the  moonless  night,  by  whom,  I  know  not, 
But  I  surmise,  by  some  kind-hearted  Jew 
Who  thought  me  poor  and  needy,  not  amiss, 
Yet  dared  not  do  a  deed  of  chanty, 
To  such  as  he  suspected  me  to  be, 
Save  under  cover  of  the  silent  night 
When  none  might  see  it. 

"So  is  charity 

Afraid  before  my  face  to  show  herself, 
But  now,  thanks  be  to  thee,  my  little  friend, 
These  pretty  trinkets,  that  my  hands  hath  learned 
To  fashion  from  the  grasses,  palms,  and  flowers, 
Hath  found  a  market,  through  thy  diligence, 
Among  the  rich  where  thou  dost  carry  them 
To  sell  and  buy  us  bread. 


LITTLE  MET  A.  1 03 

"  I  am  thy  charge, 

Thou  seest,  little  maid,  well  as  thy  friend, 
And  one  who  seeks  the  place  within  thy  heart, 
Of  the  lost  mother  I  have  told  thee  of 
Who  cannot  come  to  thee." 

"  O,  my  mistress  ! 

Mother  thou  art,  and  hast  been,  unto  me, 
In  many,  many  ways  !  "  the  child  replied, 
"  For  thou  dost  love  me,  yes,  I  know  it  well, 
And  thou  hast  been  so  very  kind  to  me, 
Speaking  so  sweetly  aye,  and  aye  so  gently, 
So  like  the  singing  of  the  nightingale 
For  pitying  tenderness  ;  and  thou  'rt  so  good, 
And  thou  'rt  so  very  fair,  so  different 
In  all  things  from  all  people  I  have  known 
That  I  do  often  wonder —     It  seems  strange 
That  thou  shouldst  care  for  a  poor  beggar's  child 
Found  friendless  in  the  streets  :  for,  O  my  mistress  ! 
Thou  wert  not  always  poor  and  in  distress  ! 
Thy  sweetness  must  have  grown  among  the  flowers, 
Thy  voice  developed  'mong  the  songs  of  birds 
And  thy  kind  heart  fed  long  on  tenderness 
Hedging  thee  all  around  ;  and  so,  forgive  me  ! 
Before  I  thought,  the  words  that  were  within  me 
Leaped  to  my  lips  which  oped  to  utter  them 
In  the  unseemly  question  I  have  asked " 


104  VASHTI. 

"  Hark  !  what  is  that !  " 

'  T  was  Vashti  who  exclaimed  ; 
And  both  were  mute  ;  and  listening,  they  heard 
The  deep,  slow-measured  voice,  wondrous  in  power, 
And  richness,  and  unutterable  pathos, 
Of  one  who  seemed  to  speak  'mid  a  great  throng 
Voicing  the  prayer  of  the  multitude 
Which  crouched,  or  knelt  about  him  with  fixed  eyes 
Centred  upon  him,  as  he  stood  among  them, 
Each  hearing  his  own  thoughts  finding  expression 
In  that  one  central,  swelling  orison 
Which    now    came    sounding    through    the    brooding 

night 

With   such  distinctness,  such  impressiveness, 
And  searching  cadence,  that  the  very  stars 
Did  seem  to  listen,  as  the  voice  concluded  : 

"  But  yet  is  hope  within  us  !  for,  our  God, 

Thy  promise  to  the  seed  of  Abraham, 

And  unto  Israel  in  his  closing  hours, 

And  much  that  Thou  hast  done  for  this,  thy  people, 

Bids  us  not  yet  to  think  that  all  is  lost, 

But  fast  and  pray,  and  cry  aloud  for  help 

To  Thee,  Jehovah,  whence  aid  only  cometh 

And  timely  succor.     Help  us  now,  O  God, 

And  strengthen  Thou   the   queen,  even  Queen  Esther 


LITTLE  MET  A.  10$ 

The  beautiful  and  good,  in  her  great  suit 

And  perilous  plea  for  our  deliverance 

Before  Ahasuerus,  by  whose  law, 

Procured  by  Haman  for  our  overthrow, 

We  are  condemned  to  slaughter.     Thou,  O  God, 

Knowest  the  hatred  of  our  enemies, 

And  seest  Thy  people  bowed  with  heavy  grief, 

And  hearest  their  lamentations,  and  their  prayers, 

Pleading  Thy  mercy,  and  Thy  intercession, 

In  this,  the  time  of  their  most  deadly  peril. 

And  shall  all  Jewry  be  exterminate  ? 

Shall  Israel  and  Judah  be  cut  off 

So  that  the  earth  shall  know  no  more  of  them  ? 

And  by  a  people  who  avow  Thee  not 

Nor  bend  the  knee  unto  Thee  ?    Woe  is  me  ! 

And  woe  to  all  Thy  people  everywhere 

Unless  Thou  aid  us  !     Lo,  the  days  are  sad, 

Yea,  and  the  nights  are  troubled  with  the  cries 

Of  children,  the  low  wailings  of  our  women, 

The  shouts  and  moanings  of  distracted  men 

In  garments  rent,  and  strewn  with  dust  and  ashes 

Mourning  for  Israel's  doom.     Turn  it  aside, 

O  God  !     Let  us  not  perish  in  Thy  sight 

Like    beasts    brought     to    the    slaughter  !      Save    us, 

Lord! 
Save  or  we  die  !  " 


106  VASHTI. 

Then  as  the  prayer  ceased 
The  multitude  did  lift  their  voices  up 
In  a  weird,  suppliant  chant,  intoning  all 
The  notes  of  grief  and  music  of  despair 
In  their  impassioned  words,  while  here  and  there 
A  tone  of  triumph,  bursting  from  some  soul 
Fired  with  abiding  faith  in  the  Almighty, 
Rang  out  above  the  rest,  in  strength  and  joyance 
Temp'ring  the  doleful  voices  all  around 
With  something  of  the  leaven  of  bright  hope, 
While  thus  all  chanted  : 

SONG  OF  THE  MULTITUDE. 

"  God  of  our  fathers,  hear  our  pray'r  ! 
O  Abraham,  thou  intercede  ! 
Isaac,  let  thy  great  spirit  lead 
Our  thoughts  to  God  in  our  despair  ! 
Plead  for  us,  Jacob  !  fathers,  plead  ! 
God  of  the  Hebrews,  raise  Thy  hand 
Or  else  we  perish  from  the  land  ! 

"  Jehovah,  God,  Oh,  we  have  sinned, 
And  we  have  suffered  much,  and  long, 
And  suffering  now  we  pour  our  song 
Of  sorrow  on  the  passing  wind. 


LITTLE  META.  IO/ 

O  God,  protect  us  !     Thou  art  strong 
And  we  are  weak  !  reach  forth  Thy  hand 
Or  else  we  perish  from  the  land. 

"  Thou  sentest  Joseph,  bondman,  led 
Down  into  Egypt  to  be  kept 
Till  Canaan's  Land  was  famine-swept, 
When  Israel's  remnant,  following,  fed 
On  surplus  he  had  stored  when  reapt 
As  Thou  hadst  ordered.     So  Thy  hand 
Preserved  them  in  the  stranger's  land. 

"  And  when  down-trod  in  servitude, 
And  writhing  under  Mizraim's  heel 
They  felt  the  bitterness  those  feel 
Who  toil  for  bondmen's  dole  of  food, 
Then  didst  Thou  answer  their  appeal  ; 
And  Moses,  as  Thou  raised'st  Thy  hand, 
Did  lead  them  from  that  heathen  land. 

"  When  Sennacherib's  Assyrian  host — 
A  countless  horde  in  armed  might — 
With  threat'ning  power  invested  quite 
The  walls  'round  Zion,  with  proud  boast 
To  level  them,  and  put  to  flight 
Thy  people,  lo  !  Thy  potent  hand 
Did  smite  the  boasters  in  our  land. 


108  VASHTI. 

"  O  God,  Thou  knowest  now  the  fate 
Decreed  against  us  ;  the  keen  sword 
Is  whetted  for  our  blood,  O  Lord  ; 
Our  enemies  are  strong  ;  their  hate 
Is  fierce  and  bitter  as  the  word 
Of  foiled  Abaddon  ;  raise  Thy  hand, 
Lord,  else  we  perish  from  the  land." 

The  chanting  ceased,  and  a  low  moaning  plaint 
Fervid,  but  indistinct,  yet  fraught  with  sorrow, 
Came  to  their  listening  ears,  and  turning  then 
The  woman  spake  unto  the  child  and  thus. : 

"  What  meaneth  this  ?     Some  mighty  trouble  hangs 

Over  this  people  surely,  or  their  souls 

Could  not  give  voice  to  such  weird  song  of  woe, 

And  supplication  for  their  God's  protection 

As  we  have  listened  to.     Go,  little  maid  ; 

Run  but  a  moment  to  the  aged  Jewess 

Who  dwells  near  Gihon's  pool,  not  far  away, 

And  is  bedridden,  yet  of  ready  speech — 

She  whom  so  often  thou  hast  told  me  of 

As  being  kind  and  confident  to  thee — 

And  learn,  if  learn  thou  canst,  what  has  befallen 

Her  mourning  people." 


LITTLE  META.  109 

Then,  without  ado, 
The  child  departed  out  into  the  night 
On  her  strange  errand,  and  the  woman  watched 
And  watching  waited,  waited  till  the  day 
Broke  in  upon  the  night,  nor  yet  returned 
The  obedient  little  messenger  she  'd  sent 
To  do  her  bidding  ;  and  her  heart  was  wrung 
With  apprehension,  and  her  self-upbraidings 
'Scaped  from  her  pallid  lips  incessantly  : 

"  Why  did  I  send  the  child  forth  in  the  night 

To  learn  of  trouble  that  I  might  have  guessed 

From  what  I  heard  coming  from  out  the  darkness  ? 

And  now  't  is  on  the  lips  of  passers-by 

Wailing  for  Jewry.     My  poor  little  Meta, 

Without  one  word  of  plaint  ;  obedient 

In  all  things,  loving,  true,  and  dutiful  : 

Never  a  word's  dissent  she  uttered,  though  I  now 

Remember  she  looked  pale  as  she  went  out. 

Poor  little  heart  !  perhaps  't  was  chilled  with  dread, 

For  surely  the  sad  wailing  of  the  people, 

Coming  from  out  the  stillness  of  the  night, 

Were  full  of  awfulness  and  weird  concern, 

And  specially  for  one  so  very  young. 

Why  did  I  bid  her  go  ?  for  now  I  see 

A  thousand  then-unthought-of  dangers  rise 


IIO  VASHTI. 

To  meet  my  darling.     Oh,  my  troubled  heart  ! 
I  thought  I  had  lost  all 't  could  give  thee  pain — 
That  nothing  in  the  world  again  could  waken 
Thy  pulsings  into  throbs  of  agony, 
But  thy  wild  beating  'gainst  my  aching  bosom 
At  this  poor  little  waif's  returning  not 
Oppresses  me  almost  beyond  endurance  ! 
I  must  go  out  and  seek  her." 

So  she  rose 

And,  drawing  close  a  veil  about  her  face, 
Set  out  in  search  of  the  loved  missing  one, 
And  to  the  hovel  near  to  Gihon's  pool 
First  turned  her  steps,  and  as  she  went  along, 
On  every  hand  she  heard  the  voice  of  prayer, 
The  song  of  lamentation,  and  the  speech 
Of  overhanging  doom,  and  saw  the  signs 
Of  mourning  and  deep  sorrow.     At  her  house 
She  found  the  Jewess,  shrivelled  with. old  age, 
And  helpless  with  a  cureless  malady, 
Stretched  on  her  bed  of  years,  and  all  alone, 
(Her  sole  attendant  having  gone  without) 
Bemoaning  weakly  with  unsteady  voice — 
Rising  in  invocation,  falling  in  wails — 
Prospective  death  to  her  and  all  her  people, 
And  weeping  bitterly  as  one  in  love 


LITTLE  MET  A.  in 

With  life  and  joys  which  she  was  loth  to  leave, 
But  when  she  saw  the  woman  at  the  door 
She  bade  her  enter. 

To  the  simple  query 

If  she  had  seen  the  child  the  night  before 
The  Jewess  said  she  had.     "  The  child,"  she  said, 
Had  "  started  quickly  back  unto  her  mistress 
After  inquiring  of  the  Jewish  sorrow, 
Which  it  was  strange  that  any  should  not  know." 
And  then  she  straight  detailed,  without  a  halt, 
The  pending  fate  that  threatened  Israel 
And  how  the  queen  had  promised  intervention 
At  her  great  peril.     After  hearing  this, 
The  woman,  bowing  low,  excused  herself, 
And,  passing  out,  pursued  her  quest  again 
With  heavy  heart,  the  poor  old  Jewess'  moans 
Still  sounding  in  her  ears  as  she  went  on  ; 
But  so  it  was  whithersoe'er  she  went 
Throughout  the  Jewish  quarter.     Mourning,  tears, 
And  prayers,  and  lamentations,  riven  raiment, 
And  people  prostrate  wailing  in  the  dust, 
Were,  round  her  everywhere,  and,  if  she  spake 
To  'quire  about  the  child,  none  noticed  her, 
For  in  the  general  sorrow  few  had  thought 
Save  of  calamity  that  threatened  all. 


112  VASHTI. 

And  so  she  found  no  trace  of  whom  she  sought 

All  through  that  long  and  weary  day  of  sorrow  ; 

Then,  turning,  heart-sick,  sought  her  own  poor  hovel, 

Half  hoping  that  the  lost  one  might  be  there, 

Returned  before  her,  but  it  was  not  so, 

And  she  sat  down  and  wept,  in  her  poor  shelter, 

And  weeping  prayed,  and  praying  spake  aloud  : 

VASHTI'S     PRAYER. 

"  O  Sun,  that  deigns  to  shine  on  so  much  woe, 

Lend  not  thy  light  unto  it  any  more  ! 

O,  Aura-Mazda,  in  thy  plenteous  might 

Turn  yet  aside  the  torrent  of  destruction 

Which  threatens  to  o'erwhelm  this  stranger  people 

Unwillingly  among  us  !     Lo,  it  seemeth 

As  though  the  baleful  strength  of  Ahriman 

Would  overcome  all  good.     Stay  him,  All-Wise 

And  Bounteous  One  !  stay  the  power  of  Evil — 

Fierce  Angra  Manyus,  stalking  now  abroad 

So  full  of  cruel  doing.     Stay  his  hand, 

And  save  this  smitten  people  !     Many  times 

Of  late  I  Ve  bowed  unto  thee,  offring  pray'r 

For  my  unworthy  self  ;  pleading  my  woes, 

My  disinheritance  and  fallen  state, 

As  cause  for  intercession,  to  the  end 

That  thou,  at  least,  teach  me  obedience 


LITTLE  META.  113 

And  meek  submission  to  thy  holy  will 

(If  so  it  be  that  I  shall  live  and  suffer) 

And  the  King's  pleasure.     Still,  although  my  griefs, 

Lately  so  many,  yet  are  multiplied, 

My  eyes  but  now  are  opened,  and  I  see 

That  I  have  thought  too  much  upon  myself, 

For,  even  now,  what  I  alone  do  grieve 

Is  suffered  many  fold  by  many  thousands 

Unhappier  than  myself,  and  with  more  cause  ; 

For,  it  can  not  much  matter  that  one  soul 

Is  tortured  in  this  world  or  taken  from  it, 

But  when  a  Race  is  threatened  with  extinction, 

A  homeless  Nation,  moaning  as  one  man 

And  weeping  as  one  woman,  lying  prone, 

Calls  out  for  mercy  and  commiseration, 

It  is  a  spectacle  to  move  the  gods, 

And  do  thou  heed  it,  great  Ahura-Mazda  ! 

In  thy  sweet  mercy  grant  this  Jewish  queen — 

This  Esther  whom,  't  is  said,  is  beautiful, 

She  who  is  raised  whence  I  have  been  torn  down — 

To  move  the  King's  compassion,  and  forbid 

That  she  too  fall  beneath  his  causeless  wrath  ; 

And  of  my  little  maid,  Oh,  care  for  her  ! 

That  evil  may  not  reach  her  where  she  is, 

Or  near,  or  far,  from  me  who  love  her  so. 

Grant  peace  and  quiet  unto  weary  souls." 


BOOK  VI. 

ESTHER. 

LO,  now  the  time  was  come  to  make  her  suit, 
And  Esther,  unattended  and  unbidden, 
Clad  in  her  royal  robes  and  matchless  beauty 
Appeared  before  the  King  in  his  great  hall 
Seated  in  state  on  his  imperial  throne  ; 
And  there  she  stood  a  time  with  downcast  eyes 
Challenging  death,  till  the  astonished  King, 
Struck  with  her  beauty  and  her  awful  daring, 
Stretched  forth  the  golden  sceptre  in  his  hand 
Giving  her  favor  ;  then  bade  her  approach 
Saying  unto  her  : 

"  Esther,  my  fair  queen, 

What  is  thy  wish  ?  Fear  not  to  make  it  known  ! 
It  shall  be  granted  thee,  even  to  the  half 
Of  this  great  kingdom  which  I  joy  to  share 
With  thee,  Light  of  my  Soul." 

114 


ESTHER.  115 

To  which  the  queen  : 
"  O  King  !  if  1  be  favored  in  thy  sight, 
Come,  even  now,  to-day,  unto  a  banquet 
Which  I  have  spread  for  thee,  and  bring  thou  Haman 
With  thee." 

So  was  it  done,  and  as  they  drank 
There  of  the  ruddy  banquet  wine  of  Shiraz, 
The  King  still  prest  her  of  her  purpose,  saying  : 
"  What  is  thy  petition  ? "     (Knowing  well 
The  queen  had  not  yet  spoken  her  desire) 
"  But  make  it  known,  and  lo,  it  shall  be  granted 
Without  condition,  as  I  once  have  said." 
And  Esther  answering  : 

"  O  most  royal  King, 
If  I  have  found  thy  favor,  and  it  please 
Thee  still,  O  King,  to  grant  me  my  request 
And  hearken  my  petition,  let  me  pray 
That  thou  and  Haman  come,  yet  once  again, 
Upon  the  morrow  to  another  banquet 
That  I  shall  make  for  you  ;  then,  please  the  King, 
I  may  make  known  the  thing  that  troubleth  me, 
Asking  the  King's  indulgence,  and  his  favor 
For  my  petition." 

Then  went  Haman  forth 
Joyful,  and  glad  of  heart  at  his  preferment, 


n6  VASHTI. 

And  as  he  passed  the  King's  great  palace  front 

Lo,  there  sat  Mordecai  in  the  gate 

And  stood  not  up  to  greet  him,  nor  yet  moved, 

Nor  deigned  to  notice  the  proud  Agagite, 

Who  strode  imperiously  by,  filled  up 

With  angry  indignation  at  the  Jew. 

Yet  chid  he  not  aloud  the  Jew's  contempt 

But  through  his  teeth  he  muttered  as  he  passed  : 

"  Accursed  Israelite  !  I  thought  ere  now 

From  what  I  Ve  heard  of  thy  most  abject  waitings 

And  loud  implorings  to  thy  unknown  God, 

That  thy  contemptuous  spirit  were  subdued 

And  thy  stiff  neck  were  yielding  to  the  yoke 

That  I  have  placed  upon  it,  and  thy  peoples' 

To  drive  and  goad  them  on  to  death  withal  ; 

And  yet  dost  thou  defy  me,  yea  and  worse, 

Before  my  very  eyes  ;  I  will  not  bear  it ! 

If  I  have  power  to  compass  the  destruction 

Of  all  thy  cursed  race  at  a  fixed  time, 

What  curbs  my  will  to  have  thee  taken  off 

A  few  days  earlier  than  all  the  rest 

With  special  ignominy,  for  thy  pains 

Of  silent  insolence  ?  and  as  example 

To  all  thy  fellows  of  a  less  degree, 

And  thus  deprive  thee  of  the  hope  of  glory, 


ESTHER.  117 

Which  I  believe  that  thou  dost  entertain, 
Of  being  chief  and  leader  of  a  host 
The  greatest  that  the  world  hath  ever  seen 
Marching  upon  a  given  day  to  death 
Without  escapement.  Yea,  I  '11  so  devise." 

So,  walking  on,  the  stony-hearted  Haman 

Warm  with  the  wine  he  'd  drank,  proud  with  success, 

Angered  at  his  ignoring  by  the  Jew 

And  gloating  o'er  his  prospect  of  revenge — 

His  soul  a  chaos  cf  contending  passions — 

Came  to  his  house  and  called  his  wife,  and  friends, 

To  whom  in  boastful  strain  he  spake,  recounting 

The  number  of  his  sons,  his  growing  greatness, 

The  measure  of  his  riches,  and  the  glory 

And  power  wherewith  the  King  had  clothed  him  ; 

Of  the  great  honor  that  the  Queen  had  shown  him 

And  of  the  morrow's  pleasing  invitation  : 

But  while  he  talked  the  thought  of  Mordecai 

Came  on  him  and  he  spake  again  with  rage  : 

"  Yet  all  availeth  nothing,  while  this  Jew — 

This  hook-nosed  Hebrew,  sneereth  his  defiance, 

From  the  King's  gate,  upon  me,  as  he  sitteth, 

And  stirs  my  soul  to  anger  !  " 

Then  his  wife, 
The  sympathizing  Zaresh,  and  his  friends 


Il8  VASHTt. 

Proposed  the  building  of  a  lofty  gallows 

Whereon  the  offending  Jew  might  speedily 

Be  hanged  in  sight  of  all  the  populace. 

"  And  let  the  gallows  be  " — Zaresh  advised — 

"  Made  fifty  cubits  high,  and  on  the  morrow 

Speak  thou  unto  the  King,  that  Mordecai 

Be  hanged  thereon,  then  go,  and  merrily 

Betake  thee  to  the  banquet."     And  the  thing 

Pleased  Haman  much,  so  that  he  straightway  caused 

The  gallows  to  be  made,  nor  could  he  rest 

Until  the  morrow  ere  he  sought  the  King, 

But  forthwith  went  unto  the  outer  court 

There  to  await  until  the  King  appeared 

At  early  morn,  that  then  he  might  request 

The  thing  which  so  engrossed  him. 

Now  it  chanced 

That  when  the  King,  returning  from  the  banquet, 
That  night  had  stretched  himself  upon  his  couch, 
His  soul  was  troubled  and  he  could  not  sleep, 
But  tossed  upon  his  bed  uneasily, 
Gazing  into  the  darkness  with  wide  eyes, 
While  his  deep  heart-throbs  shook  his  sturdy  frame 
And  pulsed  with  feverish  force  in  his  hot  temples 
Rousing  his  mind  to  double  wakefulness 
In  the  oppressive  silence,  by  himself, 
And  with  his  thoughts.     Communing  with  himself, 


ESTHER. 

At  length,  as  though  to  break  the  stifling  spell 
That  seemed  to  clasp  him  'round  with  viewless  arms, 
He  muttered  to  himself  : 

"  And  is  this  glory  ? 

Is  this,  then,  greatness  ?     True,  I  rule  a  world 
Of  goodly  kingdoms  and  broad  provinces 
(The  joint  fruits  of  a  wide  inheritance 
And  of  my  own  good  sword  and  conq'ring  hosts) 
Whose  people  and  whose  princes,  yea,  and  kings, 
Do  all  proclaim  me  '  King  '  with  servile  shouts, 
And  'King  of  Kings  '  with  show  of  loyalty, 
Yet  how  much  boots  it  all  ?     One  heavy  stroke 
Of  fell  disaster, — one  severe  defeat 
Of  Persia's  arms  upon  some  foreign  field — 
One  month's  desertion  by  great  Aura-Mazda 
Would  turn  a  hundred  daggers  at  my  throat 
Aimed  by  the  kinglets  who  despise  my  yoke 
And  claim  to  love  me  only  that  they  fear 
The  scourge  of  my  displeasure,  and  the  rage 
Of  trampling  armies  thund'ring  at  their  gates. 
So  only  in  my  power  is  lodged  my  glory, 
My  greatness,  in  the  strength  of  conq'ring  hosts, 
And,  if  the  gods  ordain,  within  one  day, 
I  may  be  robbed  of  both.     And  what  of  both  ? 
Upon  the  morrow  would  a  million  men 
At  my  command  take  up  the  tools  of  war 


120  VASHTI. 

To  do  my  bidding,  and  a  hundred  kings 

Send  goodly  store  of  tribute  to  the  crown 

From  ev'ry  part  of  this  far-reaching  empire  ; 

Yet  here,  at  my  own  court,  in  mine  own  house, 

I  am  at  times  a  puppet,  a  bound  slave 

To  the  designing  princes  who  are  'round  me 

And  lash  me  into  anger  with  their  speech 

And  then  frame  words  for  me  to  voice  my  wrath 

Unto  their  own  advantage.     Thus  it  is, 

No  man  in  all  the  kingdom,  save  the  King, 

But  that  might  rule  in  his  own  family, 

Within  the  law,  according  to  his  wish, 

Without  suggestion,  hint,  or  interference  : 

But  to  the  King,  e'en  this  much  is  denied 

By  those  who  feign  to  serve  him.     Nor,  forsooth, 

May  he  e'en  take  unto  himself  a  wife 

But  they  must  fix  the  manner  of  his  wooing. 

So,  have  I  been  harassed,  and  otherwise, 

Here  in  my  court  at  Shushan.     While  I  am  worn 

With  great  perplexities  and  cares  of  state, 

One  asketh  this,  another  prays  for  that, 

Even  of  the  few  that  I  permit  to  come 

Anear  me,  till  I  scarcely  know  the  half 

Of  what  is  asked,  or  even  what  is  granted 

In  my  desire  to  be  soon  rid  of  them  ; 

Yet  the  King's  word,  when  given,  is  as  law. 


ESTHER.  121 

And  now  of  this  petition  of  the  queen, 
Which  is  already  granted  ere  the  naming, 
It  yet  concerneth  me  what  she  may  ask, 
For  well  her  conduct  doth  to  me  portend 
Some  weighty  matter  that  she  hath  in  hand, 
Else  had  she  not,  unbidden,  sought  my  presence 
Staking  her  life  on  meeting  my  approval ; 
Faith,  she  is  brave  as  well  as  beautiful 
And  I  could  not  deny,  ask  what  she  might, — 
Unless  she  come  unto  me  speaking  lies. 

"  Thus  am  I  hedged  about !     My  boasted  power 
Filched  from  me  by  fair  looks  and  honeyed  words — 
By  promises  and  dark  insinuations — 
By  cunning,  and  intrigue,  and  treachery, 
And  so,  mayhap,  is  evil  sometimes  done, 
And  in  my  name,  that  should  not  know  my  name  ; 
While  murd'rous  treason,  here  within  the  palace 
Would  strike  me  lifeless  from  my  jewelled  throne 
With  less  compunction  than  a  shepherd  boor 
Might  club  a  robber  filching  from  his  flock. 

HO,    GUARDS  !    THERE  !       LlGHT    THE    HALL,    AND    CALL 

THE  SCRIBES  ! 

AND  BID  THEM  BRING  THE  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES 
AND     READ     TO     ME     THEREFROM     THE     LAST      MONTH'S 

RECORD  !  " 


122  VASHTI. 

The  lamps,  soon  lighted,  in  the  royal  chamber, 
Disclosed  two  golden  guardsmen  'bove  the  door 
Upon  a  mantel  of  veined  Tabriz  marble 
Standing,  half  sidewise  turned,  in  stern  resolve 
Crossing  their  jewelled  spears  before  old  Time — 
A  figure  bald,  and  bearded,  bent  and  grim — 
Who,  for  a  staff,  leaned  on  the  crystal  tube 
Of  a  gemmed  clepsydra  ;  and  so  seemed  Time 
Himself  denied  admittance  to  the  King  ; 
But  the  old  tyrant's  babes,  the  busy  Hours, 
Stole  in  atwixt  the  spears,  and  on  the  glass 
The  imprisoned  water  told  the  second  watch, 
Standing  at  level  on  the  mark  of  midnight, 
As  the  scribes  entered  ;  when  they  sate  and  read 
From  out  the  chronicles,  before  the  King 
As  they  were  bidden.     When  at  length  they  read 
How  Mordecai  had  disclosed  the  plot 
Of  the  two  chamberlains  to  slay  the  King, 
The  King  inquired  : 

"  What  honor  hath  been  done 
To  Mordecai  ?  and  what  dignity 
Conferred  upon  him  for  this  timely  act 
In  our  salvation  ?  " 

Answered  then  the  scribes  : 
"  O  King,  there  hath  been  nothing  done  for  him 
In  honor,  or  reward,  or  circumstance, 


ESTHER.  123 

Save  the  approval  that  a  loyal  soul 

Must  feel  within  itself  for  such  a  deed." 

Then  the  King  queried  :     "  Who  is  in  the  court  ? " 

And  the  King's  servants  answering  said  to  him  : 

"  Behold,  even  Haman  standeth  in  the  court 

As  if  in  waiting  !  "     And  the  King  exclaimed  : 

"  Let  him  come  in  !  " 

And  so  came  Haman  in 
And  as  he  entered  the  King  asked  of  him  : 
"  What  shall  be  done  unto  the  man  whom  I, 
The  King,  delight  the  most  to  honor  !  " 

And  now  Haman 
Within  his  heart  bethought  him  thus: 

"  To  whom 

Than  to  myself  would  the  great  King  delight 
To  do  more  honor  ?  "  And  still  thinking  so, 
Answered  the  King  : 

"  Let  thou  the  royal  robes 
Which  on  occasion  the  great  King  doth  wear, 
And  so  the  horse  which  thus  the  King  doth  ride, 
And  the  crown  royal  from  the  kingly  head, — 
Let  all  these  things,  and  straightway,  be  delivered 
Unto  one  of  the  King's  most  noble  princes 
That  he  may  have  the  man  arrayed,  withal, 
Whom  the  great  King  doth  much  delight  to  honor, 
And  bring  him,  mounted,  through  the  streets  of  Shushan, 


124  VASHTT. 

Proclaiming,  too,  before  him,  in  the  city 
His  well-earned  glory.     Thus  shall  it  be  done 
Unto  the  man  whom  the  great  King  would  honor." 
When  the  King,  answering  Haman,  spake,  and  thus  : 

"  It  is  well  said  !     Make  haste,  take  thou  the  apparel, 
My  crown,  and  royal  steed,  to  Mordecai, 
The  Jew  that  sitteth  oft  in  the  King's  gate 
And  do  unto  him  as  thou  well  hast  spoken, 
Failing  in  nothing." 

Then  went  Haman  out 
In  agony  and  deep  humiliation 
To  do  as  bidden  ;  and  throughout  the  city 
(When  the  first  sunny  hours  of  day  had  come) 
Preceding  Mordecai — like  the  King 
Arrayed  and  horsed — he  called  aloud  : 
"  Thus  shall  it  still  be  done  unto  the  man 
Whom  the  great  King  delighteth  much  to  honor  ! " 
And  when  't  was  over,  with  a  heavy  heart 
Did  Haman  hasten  mourning  to  his  home, 
With  his  head  covered  and  his  garments  rent 
Boding  much  evil  ;  and  his  wife  and  friends 
Mourned  with  him,  and  his  wise  men  prophesied 
That  now  the  Jew  would  e'en  prevail  against  him, 
And  while  they  yet  were  talking  there  did  come 


ESTHER.  125 

The  King's  own  chamberlains  to  bid  him  hasten 
Unto  Queen  Esther's  banquet. 

So  they  came, 

The  King  and  Haman,  straight  unto  the  banquet 
And  as  they  sate  again  before  the  queen 
This  second  day  of  banqueting  and  wine 
The  King  inquired  again  : 

"  What  is  thy  wish 

Queen  Esther  ?    What  is  thy  petition  ?     Speak  ! 
Be  not  afraid,  but  make  thy  object  known, 
And  it  shall  be  performed,  and  granted  thee 
Unto  the  giving  of  one  half  my  kingdom." 
When,  Esther,  paling,  answered  thus  : 

"  O  King ! 

If  I  have  found  thy  favor,  let  me  first 
Petition  thee  to  give  me  my  poor  life, 
And  then  request  of  thee  to  spare  my  people  ; 
For  we  are  sold  and  given  unto  death 
Without  condition.     If  't  were  only  so 
We  had  been  sold  to  bondage,  men  and  women, 
And  all  our  babes  condemned  to  that  estate, 
I  would  have  held  my  peace  and  bowed  my  head 
Under  the  weight  of  a  so  deep  affliction 
Thinking  it  were  God's  will,  to  further  punish 
The  sins  of  Israel  ;  for  even  so 
Some  little  hope  might  live  amongst  our  people — 


126  VASHTL 

Some  gleam  of  dawn  break  through  the  awful  darkness 

For  those  that  might  come  after  us  ;  but  death, 

Coming  at  once,  and  unto  our  whole  race — 

The  thought  of  it  hath  blanched  our  strongest  men 

And  set  all  Israel  mourning  ;  for  the  enemy 

Exulteth  at  our  fall,  and  only  thou 

May'st  countervail  our  damage." 

Then  the  King  : 

"  Who  is  he,  and  where  is  he,  that  durst 
Presume  to  do  the  things  which  thou  hast  said 
To  thee,  or  to  thy  people  ?  " 

And  the  queen  : 
"  The  adversary  and  the  enemy 
Is  now  before  thee  !  'T  is  this  wicked  Haman 
Who  would  destroy  us." 

Then  the  King  was  wroth, 
And  rising  from  the  banquet  went  without 
Into  the  palace  garden  for  a  time, 
And  Haman  pale  with  fear,  plead  for  his  life 
Unto  the  queen,  sinking  upon  his  knees 
Before  her  on  the  couch  whereon  she  sate, 
Begging  for  mercy  ;  when  the  King  returned, 
And  seeing  which  he  burned  with  jealous  rage 
And  spake  his  fierce  displeasure.    Hearing  this 
The  attendants  seized  the  wretched  Haman  there, 
Cov'ring  his  face  and  dragging  him  away, 


ESTHER. 

While  thus  Harbona,  the  chief  chamberlain 
Delighting  still  to  witness  pain,  and  death, 
And  hating  much  the  crafty  Agagite 
Spake  calmly  to  the  King  : 

"  Behold,  O  King  !    ' 

Beyond  the  palace  court,  near  Hainan's  house, 
Yon  towering  gallows,  fifty  cubits  high, 
Which,  only  yesternight,  did  Haman  build 
For  Mordecai,  who  hath  saved  the  King 
From  the  assassins'  daggers." 

Angered  still, 

Gazing  one  moment  on  the  giddy  gibbet 
With  ready  loop  dependent  from  its  arm, 
The  King  spake  briefly  thus  : 

"  Hang  him  thereon  !  " 

So  the  poor  wretch  was  dragged  away  to  death. 
But  Esther  pleaded  still  before  the  King 
Casting  herself  in  tears  down  at  his  feet, 
Speaking  her  kinship  unto  Mordecai, 
Thanking  the  King  for  what  he  'd  done  for  him, 
And  then  continuing  thus  : 

"  O  King,  forgive, 

That  I  have  brought  this  thing  unto  thy  knowledge 
Never  till  now  !  But  if  this  may  not  be, 
And  I  have  forfeited  my  claim  to  life, 
I  may  have  found  some  favor  in  thy  sight 


128  VASHTI. 

And  though  I  die,  O  King,  save  them  my  people  ! 
Reverse  the  letters  which  the  Agagite 
Hath  caused  to  be  decreed  condemning  them  ! 
For  how  can  I  endure  that  this  great  evil 
Shall  come  upon  them  ?     How  can  I  abide 
The  knowledge  of  their  legalized  destruction  ? — 
Their  summary  extinction  from  the  earth  ? 
And  so  if  my  poor  life  might  be  their  ransom 
Unto  thy  own  and  God's  transcendent  glory 
Glad  would  I  yield  it.     O  my  lord,  my  King  ! 

Let  me  not  plead  in  vain  ! " 

So,  passionate 

And  fervid  in  her  tears  and  supplications, 
Lain  prone  and  pleading  the  tremendous  cause 
Of  Israel  condemned  ;  beseeching  mercy 
For  all  her  race,  e'en  though  herself  might  perish, 
The  deep  strength  of  great  sorrow  in  her  voice, 
Spake  this  fair  woman,  when  the  mighty  King 
Stretched  o'er  her  prostrate  form  the  golden  sceptre, 
Thus  interrupting  : 

"  Lo,  arise,  Queen  Esther  !  " 
And  as  she  did  so  thus  the  King  continued  : 
"  Be  calm  and  fear  not !  for  although  the  King, 
Under  our  Mede-and-Persian  precedents, 
May  not  reverse  that  which  is  once  decreed 
More  than  our  humblest  subject,  yet  withal, 


ESTHER. 

When  gross  duplicity  and  artful  lies 

Hath  been  employed  to  give  an  unjust  measure 

The  seeming  sanction  of  our  royal  name 

With  seal  and  signet  and  due  attestation, 

As  in  this  matter  there  hath  surely  been, 

Then  may  there  be  decreed  some  special  edict 

To  break  the  force  of  the  impending  blow, 

Or  rob  of  power  that  which  portends  much  evil  ; 

As  in  this  case,  the  Jews  might  arm  themselves 

And  stand  for  their  own  lives  with  our  approval 

Against  all  men  soever  who  assail  them, 

And  so  avert  destruction.     Mordecai, 

Thy  kinsman  here,  our  own  most  trusty  servant, 

Is  now  empowered  to  draft,  in  our  own  name, 

Even  unto  this  purport,  as  he  may 

The  needed  letters  royal." 

As  he  spake 

The  King  took  from  his  hand  his  signet  ring 
And  placed  it  on  the  finger  of  the  Jew 
While  thus  he  added  : 

"  Now  our  kingly  power 
And  our  imperial  signet  are  with  thee  ; 
Use  them  as  seems  thee  best  in  this  behalf, 
And  to  our  good  queen's  liking." 

So  it  was  : 
The  Jew,  dictating  to  the  royal  scribes, 


130  VASHTL 

Caused  letters  to  be  writ  and  made  of  record 

According  to  the  power  granted  him 

Signing  the  royal  name,  and,  with  a  touch 

He  felt  to  be  the  ransom  of  his  race, 

Affixed  the  mystic  signet  to  the  scroll 

Redeeming  Israel ;  for  in  Israel's  sword, 

With  the  law's  sanction  for  its  trusty  wielding, 

Was  Israel  safe.     Then  Mordecai  came 

Out  from  the  presence  of  the  mighty  King, 

Clad  all  in  royal  garb  of  blue  and  white, 

With  robe  of  Tyrean  purple,  and  fine  linen, 

And  a  great  crown  of  gold  upon  his  head, 

Blazing  with  gems — all  gifts  of  the  great  King — 

And  as  he  passed  along  the  streets  of  Shushan 

The  people  greeted  him  with  mighty  shouts 

And  bowed  before  him  as  in  reverence, 

And  all  the  city  seemed  wild  with  joy, 

But  more  than  all,  the  Jews  were  filled  with  gladness, 

And  light  was  in  their  households  once  again, 

And  mourning  ceased,  and  sorrow's  voice  was  dumb, 

And  tears  were  dried,  and  tattered  garments  shed, 

Glad-voiced  hozannahs  went  up  from  their  homes 

And  thankful  pray'rs  for  their  deliverance 

Were  offered  to  the  God  of  Abraham. 

Blessings  were  asked  upon  the  beauteous  queen, 


ESTHER.  131 

And  hope  and  joy  and  gladness  sprang  like  flowers 
Up  in  their  hearts. 

So  was  their  sorrow  drowned, 
And  when  the  time  was  come  to  slay  the  Jews 
According  to  decree  procured  by  Haman, 
The  Jews  fought  bravely  in  their  own  defence 
O'ercoming  their  assailants  ;  for  the  fear 
Of  Mordecai  (now  grown  much  in  favor 
With  the  great  King)  was  heavy  on  all  those 
Who  sought  his  people's  hurt,  and  many  turned 
To  aid  whom  lately  they  would  have  destroyed, 
And  so  the  Jews  prevailed,  and  many  fell 
Among  their  enemies,  and  Hainan's  sons 
Were  first,  among  the  many  slain  at  Shushan 
On  that  first  day,  and  so  upon  the  next — 
For  lo,  the  queen  had  gained  a  second  day's 
Employment  for  the  sword  of  Israel 
Within  the  city  and  the  palace  Shushan — 
Fell  many  there  who  sought  the  hurt  of  Jewry, 
But  all  throughout  the  provinces  beside 
None  fell  but  on  the  day  at  first  appointed 
Unto  the  Jews'  destruction  ;  but  throughout 
Did  Israel  prevail,  and  so  was  saved, 
And  so  had  rest  from  all  her  enemies  ; 
And  Mordecai  caused  it  to  be  writ 


132  VASHTI. 

With  the  queen's  sanction  and  the  broad  approval 

Of  all  of  Jewry  ;  that  the  next  two  days — 

Fourteenth,  and  fifteenth,  of  the  twelfth  month,  Adar, 

On  each  recurring  year  as  time  shall  pass 

Be  by  decree  forever  set  aside 

Among  the  Jews,  through  all  the  generations 

That  Israel  shall  endure,  as  days  of  joy, 

And  gladness,  and  rejoicing,  and  good  cheer, 

Of  giving  portions  unto  one  another, 

Of  gifts  and  charities  unto  the  poor, 

And  that  the  time  thereof  be  called  "  Purim," 

That  is,  from  "  Pur,"  the  lot,  which  Haman  cast 

For  Israel's  destruction,  the  deliverance 

From  which  let  Israel  commemorate 

Till  all  the  race  is  gathered  in  the  tomb 

To  slumber  with  the  fathers. 

So  it  was, 

And  so  had  Israel  peace  and  quietude 
Through  all  the  years  Ahasuerus  reigned. 


BOOK  VII. 

THE  FLIGHT. 

"  LJ  OW  strangely  goes  the  world  !     A  year  agone 

**      Death's  shadow  lowered  dark  o'er  Israel, 
And  so  all  Jewry  mourned  exceedingly, 
With  such  a  depth  of  sorrow  and  alarm 
As  most  did  make  me  doubt  /  had  known  sorrow  ; 
Yet  these  were  those  whose  strength  of  enmity 
Rejoiced  at  Israel's  sufferings  and  the  fate 
That  seemed  in  store  for  her.     But  all  was  changed- 
Changed  almost  in  an  hour .     For,  those  three  days 
And  their  succeeding  nights  of  piteous  prayer 
Seemed  answered  of  Jehovah,  their  great  God, 
To  whom  they  prayed  for  their  deliverance  ; 
For  so  did  this  fair  queen  persuade  the  King, 
Even  at  the  peril  of  her  own  young  life, 
To  let  it  be  decreed  that  the  condemned 
Might  with  the  sword  defend  them  from  their  foes  : 
And  then  what  joy,  and  gladness,  and  rejoicing 

133 


134  VASHTI. 

There  was  among  them  all  who  so  had  mourned  ; 

While  the  derided  race  sprang  into  favor 

Even  'mong  those  who  'd  sought  to  persecute  them  ; 

(Pretended  favor,  mayhap,  born  of  fear) 

Yet  as  I  learn  were  very  many  slain, 

And  not  a  few  of  these  among  the  Jews, 

But  many  more  'mong  those  who  sought  their  hurt. 

"  Still  did  each  lawfully  destroy  the  other 

According  to  the  mandates  and  decrees 

Of  this  great  realm — each  drew  his  sword  or  dagger 

To  slay  the  other  in  the  Great  King's  name 

As  bidden  by  unalterable  fiat. 

So  did  the  State  contend  against  itself 

Ranging  its  people  one  against  another 

And  countenancing  both  sides  equally, 

Save  that  the  last  expression  of  the  law, 

As  seeming  to  be  backed  by  latest  favor, 

Robbed  those  committed  to  the  earlier  law 

Of  half  their  wonted  courage,  and  instead, 

Filled  them  with  weakening  doubt  and  apprehension, 

And  so  impelled  them  to  their  own  destruction. 

"  O,  would  that  law  were  justice  !     Would  that  Power 

Might  realize  its  fallibility 

And  so  exert  itself  to  do  the  right 


THE  FLIGHT.  135 

According  as  it  should  be  found  in  truth, 
Instead  of  clinging  to  that  stupid  maxim 

Which  doth  belie  itself  at  every  turn 

1  The  King  can  do  no  wrong,  he  cannot  err '  j 
An  idle  claim  to  make  for  mortal  man  ; — 
So  this  hath  come  to  be  this  nation's  boast  : 
'  Laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  never  change? 
O,  shameful  boast  of  a  more  shameful  fact, 
Which  in  this  case  filled  four  score  thousand  graves, 
And  crushed  four  times  as  many  living  hearts, 
And  all  because  a  wicked  man,  and  vain, 
Had,  by  deception,  in  the  Great  King's  name 
Procured  his  wickedness  to  be  made  law — 
Law,  which,  when  shown  in  its  enormity, 
Might  still  not  be  expunged,  nor  yet  repealed, 
Because  some  unwise,  thoughtless  precedent 
Hath  been  found  in  the  ancient  chronicles, — 
And  so,  adhered  to  since  without  a  question — 
That  what  is  written  in  the  Great  King's  name, 
And  sealed  with  the  King's  ring,  should  be  reversed 
Never,  by  any  power  upon  the  earth. 

"  Thus  folly,  unrebuked,  grows  into  custom, 
And  custom,  written  down,  is  precedent, 
And  precedent  established,  is  as  law, 
And  law  may  thus  be  builded  on  gross  error 


136  P 'ASH TTI. 

Which  so  secures  its  perpetuity, 

Pledging  the  King  and  State,  thus,  in  advance, 

To  its  strict  recognition  and  enforcement. 

Surely  things  are  awry  in  this  strange  world, 

When  kingly  power  may  thus  be  pledged  to  wrong 

Beyond  revokement,  and  so,  life  or  death 

Be  weighed  upon  a  scale  whose  beam  shall  tip 

As  the  mere  shifting  weight  of  accident 

Shall  be  impelled  along  it. 

"  Had  the  King 

In  this  case — finding  he  had  been  deceived — 
Annulled  the  product  of  the  gross  deception 
And  punished  fittingly  the  base  deceiver — 
As  erst  he  would  but  for  the  honored  maxim 
Whose  close  observance  wrought  this  great  dishonor — 
And  him  alone,  what  bloodshed  had  been  spared, 
What  innocent  life  redeemed  from  forfeiture  ! 
So  had  wrong  been  rebuked  and  justice  triumphed 
In  its  own  name,  not  trusting  its  enforcement 
Into  the  hands  of  those  whose  bitter  wrongs 
Urged  them  beyond  its  bounds,  and  in  its  name 
To  strike  fierce  blows  for  vengeance. 

"  This  young  queen 

Whose  beauty  is  the  theme  of  ev'ry  tongue, 
Whose  spirit  and  great  courage  are  admired, 
As  I  have  chanced  to  hear,  by  all  her  people, 


THE  FLIGHT. 

And  by  the  populace  of  all  the  realm, 

Was  yet,  from  being  bowed  with  a  great  sorrow — 

Involving  all  her  people,  Israel, 

Who  tasted  all  the  bitterness  of  death 

And  all  the  sense  of  a  malign  injustice — 

Not  raised  thereby  above  that  same  injustice 

From  which  her  people  suffered.  But  for  this — 

Though  she  is  given  all  that  I  have  lost, 

And  her  great  glory  founded  on  the  ruins 

Of  my  own  pulling  down — I  could  have  honored, 

Yea,  could  have  loved  her  with  unstinted  measure. 

"  Oh  why  should  she,  after  that  day's  defence, 
Which  well  insured  her  people's  further  safety, 
Crave  from  the  King  another  day  of  blood  ?  — 
A  day  of  slaughter,  and  a  day  of  vengeance, 
Unclaimed  of  justice  and  bewailed  of  mercy  ? 
So  fair  in  face  and  form,  and  so  exalted 
In  her  devotion  to  her  harassed  people, 
I  would  for  my  own  peace  she  had  not  stooped 
To  drink  the  bitter  waters  of  revenge  ; 
The  one  thing  only  that  doth  seem  to  taint 
The  grand  perfection  of  her  womanhood. 

"  But  why  should  I  reflect  on  any  soul 
E'en  though  it  only  be  unto  myself, 


I3B  VASHTI. 

Knowing,  that  I,  myself  am  so  imperfect  ? 
Beside,  I  am  condemning  her  unheard, 
The  very  thing  myself  did  most  complain  of. 
Yet,  after  all,  what  matters  my  poor  words 
Of  condemnation,  favor,  or  applause  ? — 
The  idle  comments  of  a  friendless  creature, 
Who, — like  a  child  that  talks  to  lifeless  toys, 
Then  lends  its  voice  to  frame  their  answers  in, — 
Finds  pastime  listening  to  her  own  speech. 

"  O,  how  I  long  to  see  my  little  Meta  ! 

Poor  child,  I  did  delight  to  talk  with  her, 

And  teach  her,  as  I  might,  some  little  good ; 

Her  company  was  as  one  cooling  spring 

In  the  parched  desert  of  my  loneliness. 

'T  was  only  yesternight  I  dreamed  of  her 

The  sweetest  dream,  fruit  of  my  squalid  bed, 

That  not  a  vision  of  my  best  estate 

On  cushioned  couch  of  ivory  and  gold 

E'er  equalled.     I  was  a  child,  I  dreamed, 

Playing  beside  a  shallow,  pebbly  lake 

Fed  from  the  waters  of  the  Pactolus 

By  spraying  fountains  ranged  about  the  shores  ; 

And  milk-white  swans  were  sailing  near  the  centre 

Which  was  as  smooth  and  placid  as  a  mirror ; 

And  as  I  played  there  'neath  the  full-leafed  trees 


THE   FLIGHT.  139 

That  fringed  the  lake  about  and  cast  their  shade 
Upon  the  grassy  sod  abloom  with  flowers, 
Lo,  little  Meta — as  it  seemed — for  playmate 
Was  with  me,  and  we  laughed,  and  sang  together, 
And  rollicked  with  a  pretty,  dappled  fawn, 
Which  ran  and  skipped  with  us  in  playfulness, 
Until,  half  wearied  into  restful  mood, 
We  sate  upon  a  sweet  moss-covered  bank 
And  gazed  out  on  the  lake  where  the  swans  lay 
Riding  the  glassy  surface  in  their  beauty 
And  moving  grace,  till,  as  the  day  advanced, 
And  the  bright  sun  grew  warmer  in  the  sky, 
These,  like  white,  fairy  ships  came  sailing  in 
As  from  far  voyage,  and  when  near  the  shore 
They  dallied  'neath  the  playing  fountain  jets 
Pluming  their  snowy  down  in  sportive  mood, 
Beating  the  falling  spray  with  lifted  wings 
And  revelling  in  joyous,  sportive  humor 
Which  seemed  a  part  of  all  things. 

"  In  a  cove — 

A  mossy  indentation  in  the  shore — 
A  tiny  shallop  floated  daintily, 
Not  tightening  the  white-linked  shining  chain 
That  held  it  to  its  moorings  ;   and  in  this 
We  lightly  stepped,  loosening  its  silver  bonds, 
And  paddled  out  a  distance  on  the  lake 


I4O  VASHTI. 

Till  on  our  view,  above  the  sloping  wood, 

The  domes  and  turrets  of  a  mighty  city 

Rose  clear  against  the  background  of  Mount  Tmolus 

Silent,  serene,  majestic.     This  was  Sardis  ! 

One  time  so  glorious  and  magnificent — 

The  builded  dream  of  Croesus  wrought  in  stone, 

And  brass,  and  gold,  the  marvel  of  the  world — 

And  still  a  city  full  of  wealth  and  splendor  ; 

And  this  was  Lydia,  my  native  land  ! 

And  this,  my  happy  dream  the  duplicate 

Of  many,  many  of  my  childhood's  days." 

As  thus  soliloquized  the  outcast  queen 

A  muffled  figure  clad  in  woman's  garb, 

Bent  as  from  weight  of  years,  and  heavily 

Leaning  on  a  stout  staff,  and  carrying 

A  grimy  sack,  which  well  proclaimed  the  beggar, 

Pushed  back  the  hut's  rude  door,  and  standing  there 

Spake  in  low  tones  unto  the  startled  Vashti  : 

"  Hush,  woman  !  Peace  !  I  am  thy  more  than  friend, 

And  come  to  offer  thee  deliverance 

As  one  attached  to  thee  by  ties  of  blood, 

And  bound  to  thee  by  sense  of  loyal  duty ; 

And  therefore,  listen  !  "  (Having  shut  the  door 

The  strange  intruder  faced  the  half-dazed  woman 


THE  FLIGHT.  14* 

And  thus  continued  :)  "As  a  little  child 
I  saw  thee  oft  about  thy  home  near  Sardis 
Where  also  I  did  dwell,  and  knew  thy  father, 
Who  was  my  father's  brother,  kinsmen  both 
Of  mighty  Crcesus,  who  died  here  in  Persia 
A  royal  prisoner  of  the  great  Cyrus — 
Nay  interrupt  me  not,  but  be  thou  free 
From  fear  of  treachery  or  thought  of  evil 
And  hear  me  further  : 

"  Now  a  year  agone, 

A  nomad  band  of  Bactrians  from  the  East 
Came  wandering  through  the  Lydian  settlements 
Bartering  rich  Indian  stuffs  for  Lydian  gold 
And  entertaining  idle  curious  crowds 
With  magic  conjurings  and  wondrous  feats 
Of  hand-sleight  and  mysterious  necromancy. 
Among  the  rest,  a  little  Persian  maid 
Was  of  the  band — slave  of  the  company — 
Whom  when  they  came  to  Sardis,  there,  they  sold 
In  the  slave  market  of  the  famous  city  : 
My  aged  sire  from  sympathetic  venture — 
Feeling  a  curious  interest  in  the  child 
Not  knowing  why  'twas  so — bid  in  the  waif  ; 
And  this  same  little  slave  hath  many  times, 
Since  coming  to  our  house,  told  of  a  night — 
A  night  of  gloom  and  wailing  here  in  Shushan — 


142  VASHT1. 

A  night  of  awful  mystery,  when  she  went 

Out  on  an  errand  for  a  much-loved  Mistress, 

Whom  she  hath  oft  described,  and  wept  about, 

Saying  :  '  They  took  me  from  her  in  the  darkness — 

My  cries  unnoticed  in  the  general  wailing — 

And  carried  me  away  unto  the  camp 

Of  those  ye  bought  me  of — a  kidnapped  slave, 

And  now  a  slave  by  purchase ' ' 

Here  a  groan 

'Scaped  from  the  woman  seated  in  the  hut, 
Who  thus  half  sobbing  spake  : 

"  Poor  little  soul  ! 

How  hath  she  suffered — suffered  for  my  sake 
Who  am  not  worthy.     My  own  suffering 
Is  chiefly,  now,  the  suffering  that  comes 
From  knowledge  of  the  suffering  of  others 
Borne  for  my  fault — albeit  unwitting  fault — 
Or  for  the  show  of  sympathy  with  me  : 
But  whom  art  thou  who  speakest  many  truths 
And  seemest  so  possessed  of  certain  knowledge, 
And  yet  in  thine  own  person  doth  belie 
The  very  truths  thou  seekest  to  proclaim  ? — 
Truth  heralded  by  falsehood  !     Yet  this  fact 
Hath  like  its  purpose,  so  I  ask  thee  further — 
Whom,  thinkest  thou,  am  I  ?     save  as  thou  seest 
A  poor  and  unknown  woman,  lone  and  wretched  ?  " 


THE  FLIGHT.  143 

To  which,  the  stranger  thus  :  "  First,  to  thy  last  : 
This  which  thou  sayest,  in  a  certain  sense, 
Might  fix  thy  state  and  evident  condition, 
But,  as  thou  'st  intimated  of  myself, 
The  truth  is  not  consistent  with  thy  seeming, 
But  truth  is  aye  consistent  with  itself, 
And,  be  the  whole  truth  known  there  is  no  puzzle 
In  that  which  but  a  part  involves  us  in  ; 
So  words  of  truth  from  a  poor  little  slave, 
Fitted  to  other  truths,  which  I  have  learned. 
All,  now  sustained  by  what  I  see  and  hear, 
Proclaim  thee  as  the  child  I  knew  at  Sardis, 
Joy  of  a  Lydian  house,  light  of  a  home, 
One  time  the  pride  of  Persia,  and  her  queen, 
Dishonored  without  fault,  blamed  for  no  wrong, 
Banned  at  the  instance  of  designing  men — 
A  princess,  queen,  a  martyr  to  injustice " 

"  Hush,  whomsoe'er  thou  art  !  "  the  listener  cried, 
"  Know  that  thy  words  are  treason  to  the  King  ! 
And  that  thy  life,  should  these  words  go  abroad, 

Must  surely  pay  the  forfeit !" 

"  Loyal  soul ! 

I  know  the  danger  that  thou  speakest  of, 
But  only  thou  dost  hear,  and  so  I  fear  not, 
For  thou  art  loyal  and  yet  merciful 


144  VASHTI. 

As  have  been  all  the  members  of  thy  house  ; 
And  now  I  may  proceed  to  answer  further 
Thy  double  query.     Well  enough  thou  knowest 
Thou  hadst  no  cousin  in  thy  early  home, 
Of  thy  own  sex,  as  also  I  well  know, 
Hence  seems  the  contradiction  of  my  story 
In  my  own  person  which  thou  spakest  of, 
For  thou  rememberest  little  Aldiphernes, 
Rough  playmate  that  he  was,  and  mayhap  prone 
At  times  to  little  acts  of  selfishness, 
And  boisterous  withal  ;  and  he  still  lives, 
And  he  hath  heard  from  this  same  little  slave, 
The  story  that  hath  brought  me  to  this  place, 
Sought  out  by  his  untiring  love  and  zeal, 
To  do  thee  helpful  service.     Raised  a  soldier, 
He  hath  assumed  the  calling  of  a  merchant, 
Coming  ostensibly  from  Cappadocia, 
With  wares  and  peltries  from  Mount  Amanos, 
To  trade  in  Shushan.     Now,  his  merchandise 
He  hath  disposed  of,  and  his  caravan 
Being  reladen  for  his  quick  return, 
He  fain  would  have  thee  go  with  him  at  once 
Back  to  thy  own  loved  Lydia,  where  a  home 
Peaceful  and  quiet  hath  been  made  for  thee 
Beyond  intrusion  and  discovery — 
Beyond  the  malice  of  the  wrathful  King 


THE  FLIGHT.  145 

Which  even  now  sleeps  in  forgetfulness, 

Or  is  o'ershadowed  by  the  dire  disaster 

To  Persia's  arms  at  far  Thermopylae, 

And  her  magnificent  fleet  'whelmed  in  destruction 

In  the  consuming  fight  on  Salamis, 

At  which  the  Great  King  still  is  exercised 

And  troubles  much,  as  I  have  lately  heard, 

Now  mourning  for  the  loss  of  his  great  host, 

Now  vowing  furious  vengeance  on  the  Greeks, 

And  now  plunged  deep  in  black  despondency, 

Fearing  the  safety  of  his  own  great  empire  ; 

So  this  distraction  with  affairs  of  State 

Now  maketh  fleeing  easy." 

"  What  thou  sayest" — 
The  astonished  listener  here  interrupted — 
"  Fills  me  with  nameless  terrors  and  alarms  ; 
For  though  thou  hast  informed  me  whom  I  am 
And  kindled  in  my  heart  a  ray  of  hope — 
Hope  that  but  brings  to  life  new  power  to  suffer — 
Thou  hast  not  yet  proclaimed  to  me  thyself 
Nor  intimated  to  me  in  what  manner 
I  should  elude  the  eyes  of  those  who  know  me, 
If  not  for  what  I  was,  for  what  I  am. 
Should  I  be  seen  set  out  and  not  return 
Then  might  some  inquiry  attract  attention, 
And  this  again,  lead  on  to  some  disclosure 


146  VASHT1. 

To  spur  pursuit,  and  then,  if  overtaken, 

Think  of  the  brave  man  whom  thou  sayest  sent  thee, 

And  what  were  then  his  fate.     Beside,  what  right 

Have  I,  but  to  abide  the  punishment 

Which  is  decreed  against  me  ?  and  this  step 

Might  bring  swift  harm  to  many  innocent  souls, 

Then  wherefore  should  I  take  it  ? " 

Unto  which 
The  unknown  gave  this  further  in  reply  : 

"  Nay,  then  believe  not  thus  !     Dismiss  thy  fears 

Of  future  ill  to  others,  and  attend, 

For  once,  to  thine  own  good  ;  for  life  is  dear 

When  it  may  be  with  pleasure  to  ourselves, 

Or  profit  unto  others,  lived  withal ; 

And,  being  innocent,  there  is  no  justice 

Or  claim  of  conscience  to  be  satisfied, 

Then  to  what  end  shouldst  thou  abide  here  longer, 

In  misery  and  want,  by  death  ignored, 

Yet  living  to  no  purpose  but  to  suffer  ? 

"  Now  as  to  whom  I  am  :     Deceit  is  folly, 
And  acting  that  which  is  not  verity 
Is  lying,  with  the  lack  of  hardihood 
To  falsify  by  simple  word  of  mouth  ; 
Yet  would  I  not  be  deemed  a  fool  or  liar, 


THE  FLIGHT.  147 

For  though  I  am  not  what  to  thee  I  seem 
Still  am  I  that  I  now  would  seem  to  thee, 
And  yet  forestall  surprise,  belay  alarm, 
And  to  the  world  without,  which  may  have  eyes 
Even  for  the  darkness,  give  no  single  hint 
That  I  am  other  than  I  seem  to  be  : 
This  much  our  safety  and  the  time  demands, 
And  this  confessed  I  now  may  crave  thy  pardon 
And  say  that  'neath  this  beggar's  cowl  and  cloak, 
Looking  upon  thee  from  behind  this  veil, 
Thy  kinsman  Aldiphernes  stands,  thy  servant, 
Faithful  to  death  for  thy  deliverance. 

"  Nay,  mention  not  thy  scruples,  or  my  danger, 

Nor  waste  thy  time  in  speaking  gratitude. 

The  first  I  hope  may  quickly  disappear, 

The  second  I  opine  is  really  naught, 

The  last  I  well  believe  ;  though  I  'm  unworthy, 

For  well  I  know,  I  can  but  do  my  duty 

If  I  succeed  in  doing  all  I  wish 

For  one  so  worthy  and  withal  so  noble : 

I  only  grieve  the  hard  necessity 

Which  hath  compelled  this  awkward  subterfuge 

To  aid  my  search,  and  now  for  further  plans  : 

My  wife  hath  made  this  pleasant  journey  with  me, 

She  hath  a  maid  who  will  not  yet  return 


148  VASHTI. 

And  thou  shalt  dress  as  she  doth  and  be  maid 
In  seeming  to  Aryenis  my  wife. 
So  shall  we  go  our  way  without  suspicion  ; 
Come  then,  at  midnight  unto  Zora's  pool, 
Where  is  our  caravan  encamped  even  now  ; 
Array  thyself  in  this  light  Lydian  tunic." 
(Saying  which,  a  parcel  from  the  ready  sack 
He  handed  to  the  woman.)     "  Now  will  I 
Proceed  before  thee,  and  in  proper  dress 
Conduct  thee  to  the  tent  of  Aryenis 
When  thou   hast  reached   our  camp,  and  on   the  mor 
row 
Shall  we  set  out  for  Lydia  and  new  life." 

So  was  it,  and  next  day  the  camp  was  broken, 
And  they  set  out  upon  the  travelled  way 
Up  the  Chaospes  on  its  western  bank  ; 
Vashti  beside  her  kinsman's  wife,  both  mounted 
On  Cappadocian  steeds,  lively,  yet  gentle  ; 
And  Aldiphernes  joined  them  oftentimes 
As  day  by  day  they  journeyed  leisurely, 
Now  close  behind  the  moving  caravan 
And  now  again  a  little  distance  back, 
Passing  the  time  in  pleasant  social  converse. 

'T  was  as  another  life  and  dream  to  Vashti ; 
Freedom,  fresh  air,  bright  birds,  and  blooming  flowers 


THE  FLIGHT.  149 

Were  all  about  her  pouring  out  their  sweets — 
Intoxicating  every  sense  with  pleasure. 
An  unwalled  landscape,  and  an  unvexed  sky 
Dispelled  all  but  the  memory  of  restraint 
From  her  long-fettered  spirit,  setting  hope 
And  thankfulness  aglow  within  her  heart ; 
And  each  new  day  discovered  some  new  joy 
Or  brought  to  sense  some  cause  of  gratitude 
For  this  long-suffering  woman. 

As  they  passed, 

One  lovely  evening  of  a  perfect  day, 
Along  the  margin  of  a  narrow  valley, 
They  heard  a  cowherd  singing  'mong  his  kine 
Close  by  the  foothills  spurring  out  from  Zagros, 
Words  that  inspired  her  as  the  herdsman  sang  : 

SONG    OF    THE    COWHERD. 

"  I  have  no  thirst  for  spoils  or  war, 
I  care  no  single  jot  for  fame, 
But  e'er  the  breezy  pastures  far 
Unvexed  by  care,  and  free  from  blame. 
I  tend  at  will  the  sweet-breathed  kine  ! 
Once  Yima's  charge,  now,  haply  mine. 

"  With  these  I  tarry  day  by  day, 

And  night  by  night  they  hedge  me  round, 


150  VASHTI. 

For  I  'm  their  king  ;  my  subjects  they, 
Prompt  and  obedient  at  the  sound 
Of  voice  or  horn  ;  my  gentle  kine, 
Great  Mithra's  charge  as  well  as  mine. 

"  And  so,  in  all  their  hours  and  moods 
We  see  the  days  and  know  them  well ; 
From  midnight's  star-lit  solitudes 
To  sunny  noontide's  golden  spell 
We  know  the  hours,  I  and  my  kine, 
Great  Mithra's  charge  as  well  as  mine. 

"  When  bends  the  grass  with  jewelled  drops, 

And  Mithra  from  the  Holy  East 

Lays  hands  upon  the  mountain  tops 

And  steps  into  the  world,  I  feast 

On  Morning's  pomp,  these  eyes  of  mine, 

While  feast  on  dewy  blades  the  kine. 

"  From  midday's  hot  and  searching  sun 
'Neath  shade  of  plane  trees  and  chinars 
We  seek  our  rest ;  and  one  by  one 
With  sighs  of  ease,  which  nothing  mars 
They  lie  contented  down,  my  kine, 
While  sleep,  all  undisturbed,  is  mine. 

"  At  night  the  sacred  fire  aglow 
Guards  us,  from  Zagros'  altars  high, 


THE   FLIGHT.  15  I 

While  blazing  constellations  show 
The  far  sweet  pastures  of  the  sky 
Where  may  I  sometime  roam,  my  kine, 
Then,  Mazda's  charge  as  well  as  mine. 

"  Thus  't  is,  I  would  not  change  my  state 

To  be  earth's  mightiest  of  men, 

For  Mithra  looks  compassionate 

Upon  the  kine  ;  so,  fitly,  when 

I  and  my  herd  shall  pass,  't  were  mine 

'Yond  Chinvat  Bridge  '  to  tend  the  kine." 

So  the  song  ceased  : 

"  A  pretty  chant  indeed." 
Thus,  simply,  spake  Aryenis  to  Vashti. 

"  Yea,  true,  my  gracious  cousin,  and  a  grand  ;  " 
Replied  the  other,  and  then  thus  continued  : 
"  Such  rare  contentment,  such  unbounded  faith 
In  what  one  has,  and  what  one  hopes  to  have, 
I  ne'er  before  have  heard  find  utterance. 
If  this  poor  herdsman  truly  hath  the  spirit 
Which  he  hath  voiced  in  what  we  've  listened  to, 
Then  surely  is  he  greater  than  a  king 
And  happier  than  the  happiest  I  have  seen— 
More  to  be  envied  than  if  store  of  gold 

1  The  "  Bridge  of  the  Gatherer"  across  which  souls  must  pass 
into  Paradise. 


152  VASHTL 

And  power  unbounded  were  at  his  command  ; 
For,  having  these,  what  mortal  yet  hath  been 
Content  therewith,  or  happy  in  his  state  ? 
But  this  poor  swain  exalts  his  humble  station 
Singing  its  favor  with  the  immortal  gods, 
Hoping  continuance  here,  and  so,  hereafter, 
With  only  transfer  to  the  heavenly  pastures, 
But  asking,  wishing,  praying  nothing  better, 
The  while  insisting  that  he  hath  the  best. 
Sure  't  is  a  happy  soul  !     It  hath  been  said 
'  The  needs  of  men  are  few,  their  wants  are  many/ 
But  this  one's  wants  hath  not  outrun  his  needs, 
And  if  he  sing  the  truth  both  are  supplied. 
It  is  a  blessed  soul." 

Here  Aldiphernes 

Fell  back  and  joined  them  for  a  time  to  say 
The  camp  would  be  pitched  for  the  night  near  by, 
Where  a  sweet  spring  leaped  from  a  giant  rock 
And  ran  across  a  level  grassy  space — 
A  lovely  pasture  for  their  hungry  beasts. 

BEFORE    THE    ROCK    BEHISTUN. 

Next  day  the  travellers  struck  the  ancient  road 
Leading  from  Babylon  to  Ecbatana, 
And  followed  its  worn  course,  veering  to  right, 
Until  they  came  to  that  great  flowing  pool, 


THE  FLIGHT.  153 

And  that  fair  vale,  and  that  majestic  script, 

Associated  long  with  war  and  song, 

Loved  of  all  Iran,  sacred  unto  Ormazd, 

And  for  a  while  they  sate  their  patient  beasts— 

And  gazed  upon  this  scarped  and  polished  page 

Of  great  Behistun  Rock,  whereon  was  writ 

In  markings  cuneiform  and  sculptured  story 

The  history  of  Iran  and  the  world — 

The  tale  of  Semiramis  and  her  wars, 

Her  victories  and  conquests  ;  Cyaxeres', 

The  Mede's,  great  triumph  o'er  Assyria, 

And  Cyrus*  mightier  doings  in  the  west — 

The  humbling  of  Croesus,  King  of  Lydia, 

Led  captive  from  sacked  Sardis,  crushed  in  spirit, 

(His  empire  blotted,  like  a  smitten  bubble  ;  ) 

Belshazzar's  slaughter,  and  great  Babylon's  fall ; 

The  captive  Jews  departing  by  decree 

(Bearing  the  golden  vessels  in  their  hands) 

To  build  once  more  the  Temple  of  Jehovah  ; 

The  coronation,  next,  of  mad  Cambyses, 

Who  next  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Sphinx, 

With  his  shod  heel  upon  the  Pharaoh's  neck 

Plunges  his  sword  in  Egypt's  living  faith, 

The  incarnated  Apis.     Great  Darius 

Slaying  with  his  own  hand  the  pseudo  Smerdis, 

And  with  relentless  force  and  energy 


154  VASHTl. 

Crushing  at  once  the  Magian  revolt, 
And  sending  traitors  forth  to  crucifixion  ; 
The  questioning  of  a  band  of  Scythian  captives 
About  their  far-off  land  beyond  the  Euxine  ; 
The  story  of  his  conquests  far  and  near 
And  their  most  glorious  issue,  well  portrayed 
In  one  grand  rugged  climax  wrought  in  stone — 
The  subject  nations  in  Atlantean  figures 
Upholding  in  their  might  the  conqueror 
Seated  in  state  upon  a  carven  throne 
Dictating  to  the  world. 

Such  was  the  tale 

The  beholders  saw,  and  read,  read  there  in  silence, 
Each  one  intent  upon  the  mighty  work 
That  Pride  had  planned  and  Wealth  and  Power  brought 

forth 

With  years  of  toil,  upon  the  upright  face 
Of  the  prodigious  rock,  and  looking  so 
Each  one  no  doubt  in  his  or  her  own  mind 
Forming  a  different  est'mate  of  the  whole 
When  Vashti  spake,  and  thus  : 

"  It  seemeth  strange 

That  this  great  towering  rock,  silent  as  death, 
Old  as  the  world  is  old  ;  and  no  doubt  witness 
To  some  o'  the  earliest  of  our  boastful  race 


THE    FLIGHT.  155 

Passing  its  walls  in  their  unguided  quest 

Of  homes  and  food,  all  free  and  unopposed, — 

Save  as  the  elements,  alone,  opposed, — 

And  only  troubled  that  the  choice  of  lands 

For  very  plenty  made  it  hard  to  choose — 

The  good  being  left  in  weary  search  of  better — 

Hath  come  at  last  to  tell  of  men's  fierce  struggles 

In  the  depriving  of  their  fellow-men 

Of  the  possession  of  the  land  they  chose, 

By  force  and  conquest  !     Yet  't  is  surely  so  ! 

And  only  is  the  victor  glorified, 

E'en  here  as  elsewhere,  while  the  vanquished 

With  loss  of  country,  loss  of  place  and  power, 

Must  here  behold  the  keenest  loss  of  all — 

Loss  of  that  spirit  in  the  conqueror 

To  do  a  gallant  foe  no  useless  wrong, 

Portraying  on  the  everlasting  rocks 

His  ruined  state  and  deep  humiliation. 

Yet  't  is  a  wondrous  sight,  and  now  do  I 

Well  understand  our  Persia's  pride  in  it ; 

But  let  us  on  at  once  ;  my  life  hath  been 

Such  that  this  story  now  doth  sicken  me  ! 

Still  would  I  not  have  missed  it  for  the  world  ; 

'T  will  be  a  medicine  for  the  hereafter, 

So  let  us  on,  dear  cousins,  once  again." 


I$  VASHTI. 

Then  on  again  to  northward,  passing  west 

Of  old  Mount  Elwend,  to  the  eastern  base 

Of  Zagros'  towering  range,  where  grassy  vales 

Pierce  like  green  bays  the  rugged  mountain  headlands 

And  laughing  streams  dance  down  through  lovely  pas* 

tures 

Where  sheep  and  cattle  graze  and  drink  their  fill, 
And  songs  of  shepherds  echo  'mong  the  hills 
That  guard  the  valleys'  flanks,  and  clustering  groves 
Cast  grateful  shadows  through  the  heats  of  day 
And  shelter  'mong  their  boughs  Night's  minstrelsy 
Locked  in  the  bosom  of  sweet  Philomel  : 
Thence  on,  and  on,  through  ever-changing  scenes, 
Passing  at  length  Lake  Urumieh's  shore 
And  thence  away  again  trending  to  westward 
Toward  Lake  Van  of  the  enchanting  islands  : 
Then  turning  northward  still,  trav'ling  a  time 
Amid  the  famous  pastures  of  the  Araxes, 
Then  passing  that  famed  stream,  turned  to  the  left 
And  gained  the  wooded  flank  and  southern  base 
Of  Ararat,  on  whose  bare  rocky  cone, 
Now  like  a  vasty  dome  among  the  clouds, 
Rested  the  Ark  of  Noah,  that  first  ship 
Whose  sides  of  rugged  plank  well  interposed 
Betwixt  the  remnant  of  our  sinful  race 
And  sure  destruction  in  a  drowning  world  : 


THE  FLIGHT.  157 

Then  on  again  through  fair  Armenia 

Into  the  ancient  road  from  Nineveh — 

The  trail  of  armies  and  the  path  of  war 

In  centuries  past — and  followed  northward  thence 

Through  eastern  Cappadocia,  over  ground 

Each  rood  of  which  was  like  a  funeral  slab 

That  breathed  the  living  tale  of  the  dead  past. 

"  Here," — Aldiphernes  said  unto  the  women 

As  they  were  riding  through  a  lovely  valley, — 

"  Breaking  the  barrier  of  the  Caucasus 

And  following  down  the  curving  coast  of  Euxine 

A  space,  then  turning  to  the  left  and  striking  inland, 

The  fierce  Cimmerians  in  our  Gyges'  reign, 

First  settled  like  a  horrid  human  swarm 

To  spread  themselves  o'er  all  our  Asia  Minor, 

The  harbingers  of  bloodshed  and  destruction. 

Rapine  and  slaughter  followed  in  their  course, 

Gyges,  the  King,  was  slain  in  stubborn  battle, 

And  Sardis  was  the  first  time  razed  with  fire, 

Her  treasure  seized  by  the  barbarians, 

Her  soldiers  done  to  death,  her  people  butchered, 

Save  at  the  citadel  which  stood  all  onslaught ; 

When  the  fierce  bands  retired  to  burn  and  pillage 

In  other  towns.     Three  generations  passed  ! 

Fierce  war  continuous  and  wasting  death 

Had  weakened  the  hard  foe,  when  Allyattes, 


158  VASHTI. 

Great-grandson  of  King  Gyges  whom  they  slew, 
With  his  victorious  armies  mad  for  vengeance, 
O'er  this  same  valley  drave  the  fleeing  remnant 
Of  the  vast  robber  hordes  limping  from  wounds 
And  lean  with  hunger  to  their  frozen  North." 

"  'T  is  the  same  story  ever,  cousin  ;  "  Vashti  said, 
"  Man's  fierce  injustice,  and  God's  retribution — 
The  endless  struggle  still  forever  raging 
'Twixt  Ahriman  and  great  Ahura  Mazda, 
'Twixt  Good  and  Evil.     But,  go  on,  I  pray  thee  ! 
I  would  not  interrupt,  but  was  intent 
Upon  thy  words  and  spake  before  I  thought." 

"  Here  too,  Cyaxeres,  the  conquering  Mede 
Assyria's  fate,  and  doom  of  Nineveh, 
Fresh  from  the  overthrow  of  Saracus  * — 
Who  made  great  Nineveh  a  funeral  pyre 
For  his  own  body  and  his  fallen  empire — 
Passed,  conquering  the  Cappadocian  State, 
To  cross  the  Halys  and  to  there  cross  swords 

1  Ashur-emid-elin,  the  last  of  the  Assyrian  kings,  called  by  the 
Greeks,  "  Saracus." 

"  Saracus,  unable  to  resist  them,  took  counsel  of  his  despair,  and 
after  all  means  of  resistance  were  exhausted,  burned  himself  in  his 

palace." 

Rawlinson's  An.  Man.,  vol.  i.,  p.  500. 


THE  FLIGHT.  159 

With  his  great  rival,  Lydia's  famous  king — 

The  conqueror  of  the  Cimmerians — 

In  unavailing  war.     First  victory 

Dwelt  for  a  time  with  one,  then  with  the  other 

Yet  neither  gained  a  permanent  advantage 

Till  in  a  battle  on  the  Phrygian  plains 

While  the  contending  armies  strove  in  fury, 

And  flights  of  arrows  filled  the  wounded  air, 

And  clash  of  sword  on  sword  and  helm  and  shield, 

And  clang  of  spears  and  hurtling  javelins 

And  crashing  blows  of  battle-axe  and  mace, 

And  shouts  of  men  in  hate's  intensity, 

Groans  of  the  wounded,  sinking  to  the  earth, 

And  the  wild  plunging  of  death-stricken  steeds 

Bearing  down  victims  in  their  agony, 

Made  the  day  hideous  with  the  din  of  war, 

And  flecked  the  trampled  field  with  gouts  of  gore 

And  streams  of  trickling  blood,  until  it  seemed 

That  death  would  claim  each  soldier  ere  it  ceased 

So  stubborn  was  the  fray  and  so  relentless  ; 

When  the  offended  gods  themselves,  appalled 

At  the  great  carnage  and  terrific  strife, 

Smote  light  out  of  the  sun,  and  hung  with  shade 

The  fleckless  blue  of  the  o'erarching  sky l 

1  This  engagement  is  known  among  Orientalists  as  the  ' '  Battle  of 
the  Eclipse." 


l6o  VASHTI. 

So,  sudden  darkness  fell  upon  the  hosts 

And  dread  seized  on  their  hearts,  and  hate  died  out, 

And  the  strife  ceased  in  fear  and  awe  and  tremblings  ; 

A  parley,  then  a  lasting  truce,  ensued 

Between  the  leaders  of  the  opposing  hosts, 

And  an  alliance  followed  shortly  after 

'Twixt  Allyattes  and  Cyaxeres, 

The  first  giving  his  only  daughter,  named, 

As  our  wife  here  is  named  '  Aryenis,' 

In  wedlock  soon  to  the  great  Median's  son, 

Young  Astyages.     So  came  peace  and  power 

For  many  years  to  all  of  this  fair  region." 

"  A  blessed  ending,"  said  the  banished  queen, 

"  To  the  long,  cruel  tragedy  of  war 

And  its  last  dreadful  scene.     'T  was  Mithra's  self, 

I  doubt  not,  growing  sick  at  sight  of  blood, 

Put  up  his  hands  before  his  shining  face, 

To  shut  from  view  the  carnage  and  the  slaughter, 

Who  thus  brought  darkness  on  the  shuddering  world 

And  stayed  mid  air  the  uplifted  hand  of  Death  : 

Blest  be  his  name  therefor,  forevermore." 

So  sped  these  later  days  ;  the  soldier,  now 
Within  a  region  whose  eventful  past 
From  bardic  song  and  patriarchal  tale 


THE  FLIGHT.  l6l 

Was  like  a  well-known  friend,  thus-while  declaring 
Its  legend  and  its  history  of  old, 
And  the  fair  exile  breathing  quiet  comment, 
And  judging  all  things  by  sweet  Mercy's  test, 
And  all  in  turn  selecting  from  the  present 
Small  themes  for  passing  speech  and  pleasantry. 

Now  struck  they  first  the  Persian  conquerors  path, 

And  pressing  onward  still,  they  passed  into 

The  famous  district  of  Pteria, 

Where,  reaching  a  small  plain,  the  soldier  joined 

Again  his  fair  companions  and  spake  thus  : 

"  Here,  the  great  Cyrus  on  his  westward  course, 

With  his  vast  armed  host,  Persians  and  Medes, 

First  saw  our  kinsman  the  heroic  Croesus 

Who  'd  come  to  meet  him  in  the  shock  of  arms, 

With  his  embattled  Paphlagonians 

And  Lydians,  and  stout  Ionian  Greeks, 

Mycians,  Celicians,  and  proud  Carians, 

Phrygians,  and  men  of  Miletus  and  Dorians — 

All  gallant  troops  of  Croesus'  own  fair  empire  ; 

And  here  was  cast  the  first  day's  gage  of  battle — 

And  all  day  long  the  fight  incessant  raged 

A  chaos  of  contention,  horsemen  and  foot 

Raining  fierce  blows  continuous  ;  forward  and  back 

Swayed  by  the  weight  of  onset,  or  recovering 


1 62  VASHTI. 

With  desperate  courage  and  fierce  energy 
Regaining  inch  by  inch  the  coigne  of  vantage, 
Lost  at  the  outset,  to  the  waver  line 
Where  each  side  fought  as  moveless  as  the  hills, 
Falling  beneath  each  other's  blows  and  thrusts 
But  yielding  not  ;  stubborn  to  stand  and  fight 
Yet  wearied  beyond  effort  of  fresh  onset; 
Till  in  the  dusk  of  eve,  bleeding  and  shattered, 
Each  side  withdrew  from  the  betrampled  field, 
Strown  with  the  dead,  unblest  of  victory. 

"  Ere  morn  our  Croesus,  counting  o'er  the  cost, 
And  being  less  in  number  of  his  troops 
Than  Cyrus  was,  deemed  it  the  wisest  thing 
At  once  to  cross  the  Halys  and  retire 
To  his  own  capitol,  the  splendid  Sardis, 
Arriving  whence,  he  then  dismissed  his  troops 
(Save  his  own  Lydians)  and  telling  them 
To  come  again  with  the  returning  spring, 
He  deeming  not  the  baffled  bleeding  foe 
Would  for  a  moment  think  to  follow  him  ; 
But  lo  !  before  his  allies  had  been  gone 
The  full  hours  of  a  wedded  day  and  night 
Behold  a  trooper  dashing  through  the  streets — 
His  helmet  and  his  armor  and  his  shield 
Cast  from  him  to  relieve  his  foaming  steed — 


THE   FLIGHT.  163 

Cried    out.     'To arms!   THEY    COME!     THE    PER 
SIANS!' 

No  time  now  to  recall  th'  disbanded  troops, 
But  ho  !  the  Lydian  horse  !  rider  and  steed, 
Magnificent  in  courage,  and  well  skilled 
In  all  the  movements  of  defensive  war— 
The  Lydian  horse  were  there,  eager  and  brave  ; 
Fleet  as  the  tempests  breath  and  frosty  keen 
They  fell  upon  the  foe  doubling  his  front 
Back  in  confusion,  then  away  again 
Striking  the  bold  invaders  such  fierce  blows 
In  their  terrific  onset  as  now  threw 
The  whole  invading  host  into  one  whirl 
Of  broken  ranks,  and  troops  disorganized 
In  madding  tumult.     So  did  this  brave  band 
Of  matchless  Lydian  horsemen  with  swift  blows 
Bring  dire  confusion,  promising  defeat  • 
To  that  whole  host  of  Persians  and  stout  Medes. 

"  Oh,  deathless,  deathless  is  their  splendid  valor  ! 

O  Lydia  !  beloved  of  my  soul  ! 

Such  was  the  swan-song  of  thy  chivalry  ! 

For  on  that  fateful  field,  the  last  of  all 

On  which  thy  sons  might  shed  their  blood  for  thee 

Still  beautiful,  untrammelled,  and  unchained, 


164  VASHTI. 

They  well  outdid  their  former  mightiest  deeds 
And  on  the  inconstant  air,  with  their  keen  blades 
Dipt  in  the  rising  sun,  painted  thy  name 
In  rainbow  hues  across  the  wintry  sky, 
One  glorious  moment  to  be  seen  of  men 
And  then  fade  out  forever  ! 

"  Prowess  now 

Must  fail  before  a  worse  than  juggler's  trick 
And  courage,  handicapped,  yield  no  return, 
For  soon  the  wily  Cyrus  to  the  front 
Urges  a  mounted  band  of  dusky  men 
Riding  on  tawny  camels,  tall  and  gaunt, 
Ungainly  beasts,  of  unaccustomed  form 
And  scent  *  to  the  astonished  Lydian  steeds 
Which  soon  were  wild  with  terror  at  the  sight 
And  uncontrollable  by  their  brave  riders, 
Who  then  dismounted,  and  so  fought  on  foot, 
And  fell  so  fighting  'gainst  o'erwhelming  odds, 
Continuing  the  struggle  till  the  night, 
When  in  the  darkness,  the  remaining  few 
Withdrew  into  the  strong-walled  citadel 
Where  yet  for  weeks  the  people  still  held  out  ; 
But  Sardis  fell  at  last,  and  Lydia  died, 

1  Horse  nature  has  not  changed  since  those  remote  times,  as  the 
scent  or  sight  of  camels  will  fill  the  average  horse  of  to-day,  not 
used  to  them,  with  uncontrollable  dread. — J.B.K. 


THE    FLIGHT.  165 

All  but  in  story,  and  her  puissant  king 
Went  forth  a  captive,  never  to  return." 

Now  as  they  neared  to  Sardis,  Aldiphernes 
Stayed  more  among  his  drivers  in  the  van  ; 
They  reached  the  city  early  one  fair  night 
And  when  the  once  queen  and  the  little  slave 
Beheld  each  other,  being  left  alone 
They  wrapt  each  other  in  a  glad  embrace 
And  told  their  troubles,  since  their  parting,  o'er, 
And  so  renewed  their  love,  that  purest  love, 
The  love  of  women  of  unequal  birth 
Unequal  age,  unequal  gifts  and  knowledge, 
The  growth  of  equal  suffering  shared  together, 
And  equal  to  all  trials,  to  the  end. 


In  a  secluded  vale  near  Hermes  stream, 
Within  an  ancient  Lydian  demesne 
Whose  splendid  home  had  fallen  sometime  vacant— 
When  he  who  owned  it  fell  in  distant  Greece, 
A  victim  to  great  Xerxes'  war  for  conquest — 
The  lights  shone  out  again  ;  the  fountain  tubes, 
Dry  from  disuse,  again  laughed  joyously 
Spurting  with  brazen  lips  their  cooling  showers  ; 
The  long-neglected  gardens  bloomed  anew, 


1 66  VASHTI. 

And  lovely  walks,  and  bowers  of  quiet  beauty, 
Took  form  among  the  tangled  greenery, 
And  tiny  lakes  smiled  in  bright  emerald  shores 
To  gem  the  sweet  retreat  where  peace  should  come 
To  dwell  with  Vashti  the  long-outlawed  queen, 
Who  here  so  found  a  fitting  house  of  refuge 
And  lived  in  meditation,  a  recluse 
With  but  her  little  friend  the  Persian  maid, 
And  a  few  trusty  servants.     Here  were  passed 
The  best-contented  and  the  happiest  days 
Of  one  so  deeply  wronged — THE  NOBLEST  WOMAN, 
THE  KINDEST  SOUL  IN  A  WHOLE  MIGHTY  EMPIRE, — 
THE  LOVELIEST   HEATHEN   THAT   THE  WORLD   HATH 
KNOWN. 

J^£^* 
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